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(,,'\ r]EI US DE >'( I LOS. 



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Personal Beauty : 

HOW TO CULTIYATE AND PRESERVE IT 



ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 



BY 
D. G. BRINTON, M.D., 

EDITOR OF THE MEDICAL AND SURGICAL REPORTER AND OF THE HALF-YEARLY 

COMPENDIUM OF MEDICAL SCIENCE, LATE SURGEON U. S. Y., AXD 

MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF THE ELEYENTH ARMY CORPS, 

MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 

OF PHILADELPHIA, ETC. 

GEO. H. NAPHEYS, M.D., 

CHIEF OF MEDICAL CLINIC OF THE JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE, MEMBER 

OF THE PHILADELPHIA COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF THE 

"COMPENDIUM OF MODERN THERAPEUTICS," ETC. ETC. 



10 Y 



" Discite quas faciem commendat cura, puel'ae, 
m r Et quo sit forma tuenda modo." — Ovidius Kaso. 




SPRINGFIELD, MASS.: 

W . J. HOLLAND 
1870. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 

D. G. BRINTON, and GEO. H. NAPHEYS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



PHILADELPHIA : 
COLLINS, PRINTER. 



PREFACE. 



Since the publication, now thirty odd years ago, 
of the excellent little book of Dr. John Bell, we 
do not know of any work in this country on Per- 
sonal Beauty, written from the physician's point of 
view. In Europe, on the other hand, the subject 
has occupied some of the best writers in the pro- 
fession ; and in view of the vast increase in cos- 
metic arts within the past few years, it must be 
regarded as one of great public and professional, 
as well as personal interest. We have endeavored 
in the present volume to furnish such an abundance 
of simple and harmless, yet efficient aids for the 
toilet, that the dependence on secret and injurious 
nostrums may be dispensed with, and the beauty 
of - the body cultivated more in accordance with 
the principles of correct taste and sound health 
than is now the case. 

THE AUTHORS. 



155 North Ninth Street, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 



(3) 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

The power of Beauty, 9. The nature of Beauty, 13. Cosme- 
tic surgery, 15. Its propriety, 17. Definition of Personal 
Beauty, 19. 

THE HUMAN FIGURE AS A WHOLE. 

Its correct proportions, 21. How to perfect the figure, 23. 
Defects in stature ; too tall or too short, 25. Want of sym- 
metry of the body, 27. Relaxed and stooping figures, 30. 
Superfluous and defective members, 35. On Corpulence and 
Leanness, 37. Bill of Fare to decrease in flesh, 43. On 
Leanness, 48. Bill of Fare to increase in flesh, 50. 

THE NECK AND BUST. 

The proper form of the neck, 55. Wry-neck and goitre, 56. 
The shoulders and chest, 58. The breasts and waist, 60. 

THE HEAD, FACE, AND EXPRESSION. 
The shape of the head, 97. The face and expression, 72. 

(5) 



6 CONTENTS. 

THE EYES, EYEBROWS, EYELASHES, AND THE SENSE OF 
SIGHT. 

Proper form and color of the eye, 79. The eyebrows, 80. 
The eyelids and eyelashes, 82. The eye 87. 

THE EAR AND THE SENSE OF HEARING. 

The form and care of the ear, 95. Piercing the ear, and 
ear-rings, 98. 

THE NOSE AND SENSE OF SMELL. 

Proper form, and care of the nose, 100. Defects in the form 
and color of the nose, 104. The sense of smell and perfu- 
mery, 108. 

THE MOUTH, LIPS, TEETH, AND BREATH. 

The mouth and lips, 114. The teeth, 123. The voice, 134. 
Offensive breath, 142. 

THE ARM AND HAND. 

The arm, 148. The hand and fingers, 149. The finger nails, 
157. 

THE LEG AND FOOT. 
The leg, 160. The foot and shoe, 162. 

THE SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 

From the anatomist's stand-point, 172. Washing and bathing, 
175. On toilet soaps, 115. Lotions and washes to beautify 
the skin, 188. Emulsions and pomades for the skin, 195. 
Other means of improving the complexion, 196. Protecting 



CONTENTS. >i 

the complexion— masks and veils, 197. What clothing 
should be worn next the skin, 199. Powders to protect the 
skin, 204. Means for whitening the skin, 206. Rose pow- 
ders and rouge, 210. A word about enamelling the face, 
214. Patches, 216. Discolorations of the skin, 217. Ex- 
cessive whiteness of the skin, 219. Discolorations from 
nitrate of silver, 224. Sunburn, tan, and freckles, 225. 
Liver-spots and moles, 230. Mothers' marks, 233. India- 
ink or tattoo marks, 234. Arsenic eating and secret washes, 
238. Eruptions of the skin, 241. Pimples, hives, carbun- 
cles, 244. The prevention and removal of scars, 252. On 
wrinkles, 254. 

THE HAIR. 

Physiology of the hair, 257. The hair in health— washing, 
combing and brushing, 262. Cutting the hair, 265. How 
to curl and stiffen the hair, 269. Hair powders, 272. 
Gray hair and hair dyes, 274. False hair, chignons, etc., 
286. Falling of the hair and baldness, 290. Dandriff, and 
scurf of the scalp, 295. Excessive growth of hair and de- 
pilatories, 298. The arrangement of the hair, 304. 

THE BEARD. 

How to wear the beard, 310. The care of the beard, 315. 
Diseases of the beard, 317. 

L'ENVOI. 

The duty of comeliness, 320. 

THE LITERATURE OF BEAUTY. 
A conversation, 324. 



Personal beauty. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

TTTOMEN are now young longer than they are 
' * beautiful. This book is designed to teach 
them how to be beautiful longer than they are young. 
Is it worth while to do this ? Let us look in history 
for a reply. 

The most intellectual woman at the court of the 
First Consul was Madame de Stael; the most beau- 
tiful was Madame Recamier. Madame de Stael was 
not pretty, and her talents brought her fame rather 
than love. Madame Recamier, though with some 
claims to be a bel esprit, gained no distinction by her 
learning, but brought every one to her feet by her 
beauty. The two were not rivals, and therefore they 
were friends. Each saw the other's power, and we 
have it on record that Madame de Stael said more 
than once that she would gladly exchange her intel- 
lectual superiority for the beauty of Madame Reca- 
mier. 

(9) 



10 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

Does it need this anecdote to vindicate the power 
of personal charms, "the proud strength of beauty," 
as an old writer fitly expresses it? We could relate 
a hundred others to the same effect. There is Cole- 
ridge, the most brilliant talker of this century, who 
somewhere complains with comical chagrin how often, 
as in some ball-room he held a circle of listeners spell- 
bound by his wondrous discourse, he had seen his 
hearers slip away one by one when the belle of the 
evening appeared. It was so in all times. Phryne, 
the most beautiful woman of Athens in the days of 
Phidias and Praxiteles, had a cause of importance to 
try before the court. Lest her peerless charms should 
deflect the scales of justice, she was ordered to appear 
veiled. But when she found the judges were about 
to pronounce against her, she threw aside her drapery, 
and so biased their minds by the sight of her beauty 
that straightway they decided in her favor. 

Would Judith, think you, have saved her country 
and won a fame imperishable, had she not been as 
comely a Jewish maiden as ever crushed with white 
feet the purple grapes of Olivet ? 

This is true that the poet sings — 

"Plus oblige, et peut davantage, 
Un beau visage, 
Qu'un homme arme." 

As nothing is more powerful, so few things are 
more noble than personal beauty. It is a shallow 



THE NOBLENESS OF BEAUTY. \\ 

fashion to decry it, to affect to hold it lightly, to pass 
it by as transitory and superficial. That it is fleeting 
is true, and more the pity, more the reason that we 
should guard it well, and appreciate it while it lasts. 
For it is this beauty, "skin-deep" if you will, that 
inspired the pencil of Raphael and the chisel of 
Michael Angelo. It is this which renders the works 
of the great masters of art immortal, which invests 
their productions with a sweet and mighty influence, 
which gives them a value beyond what dollars and 
cents can possibly express. 

Plato, profoundest of heathen philosophers, explor- 
ing this universe in search of God, whom as yet no 
revelation had disclosed to the Gentile world, found 
Him nowhere so manifestly present as in Beauty, and 
with this as his last word the thinker returned to 
earth. 

Trivial philosophizers of modern times have been 
unable to make anything out of this. With dry eru- 
dition they would show us that this matter of per- 
sonal beauty is a mere caprice of the fancy; that in 
Abyssinia the ideal woman is a mass of fat, a Dulcinea 
of four hundred weight or so, while in China she must 
be as lank and lean as the brown sea-sand; that the 
Cafflrs delight in a black skin, thick lips, a flat nose, 
and large flabby ears; that the Peruvians aim to 
acquire a distorted head and prominent cheek bones ; 
and many similar diversities of taste. From all this 



12 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

/they draw the conclusion that there is, in fact, no abso- 
lute type of beauty, that it is solely a question of race 
and education. 

What a lame conclusion it is ! 

We can show them in turn that the Fejee Islanders 
think it quite the proper thing to kill and eat their 
aged parents ; that theft and murder are no crimes to 
the Kamschatkan, but that to scrape the snow from 
his shoe with a knife is a heinous sin which he will in 
nowise commit ; that to lie and steal were not amiss in 
ancient Sparta, but to be found out was a punishable 
offence ; that to destroy an infant which was not well 
formed was in the same state an approved custom, but 
to employ silver money was an infraction of the law. 
Does all this invalidate those eternal principles of truth, 
justice, goodness, and love, which lie at the base of the 
teachings of true religion, and the instructions of its 
ministers ? 

Not in the least. 

Then, we answer, neither do those various and false 
notions of personal beauty in the least detract from the 
reality of an absolutely perfect form of personal human 
beauty. 

But we do not stand in need of a theory to prove 
this. The verdict of art and the incontrovertible evi- 
dence of the most exact of sciences are at our com- 
mand. 

Where do the painter and the sculptor of to-day seek 



FOREVER THE SAME. 13 

their highest models ? In those discolored and broken 
marbles chiselled nigh three thousand years ago in 
Greece. All that we have since learned does but teach 
us the more forcibly that these illustrate the eternal 
laws of beauty. 

These laws are those of geometry. 

"You don't mean to make this a treatise on the 
higher mathematics?" 

Heaven forbid. There is no such matter in our 
thoughts. But we do want to say in reply to those 
stupid philosophizers who can see nothing absolute in 
the ideal of beauty, that the curves and outlines of per- 
fect human figures can be geometrically constructed by 
the rule of harmonic ratio ; that the}' can be derived 
from the laws of the vibration of a mono chord ; that 
they are, therefore, as much in a strait-jacket of ma- 
thematics as are the notes of a musical instrument; 
that all this and a great deal more to the purpose has- 
been proven by the researches of an English writer 
whose name is D. R. Hay, and that — 

But enough, or we shall strike the veiy rock we are 
steering to avoid, and overwhelm ourselves in a sea of 
technicalities. Let it only be remembered that personal 
beauty is a harmony of form and color quite as severely 
regulated by mathematical formulae, yet capable of 
quite as infinite variations as that other harmony we 
call music. 

"TVhat is Beauty?" some one once asked Goethe. 
2 



14 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

" I do not know, but I can show it to you," he re- 
plied. 

We shall follow the advice of this great master, and, 
troubling ourselves no further as to the ultimate nature 
of Beauty, we shall rather inquire how it is to be got, and 
how it is to be kept. 

These inquiries will appear to some the most import- 
ant in the world, and to others the most trivial. We 
do not quite agree with the former ; but we are still 
further in opinion from the latter. Yet these will be 
chiefly found in our own profession. Physicians look 
at the human body not as a "model," but as a "sub- 
ject." They measure, and probe, and dissect it, not to 
learn what it is in its utmost perfection, but in order 
to detect the more readily its degradations and abase- 
ments. Then, again, they see so much of the miseries 
and accidents to which it is exposed, that they think 
people are well enough off when they are in health, 
and have no business to waste time in trying to become 
beautiful. 

The period has been when this was all very well. It 
is right to provide the necessaries ere we cast about 
for the luxuries of life. Leather and wool should pre- 
cede lace and diamonds. 

But apart from the fact that in a sense health and 
good looks are synonyms, the hour is now come when 
the improvement, the maintenance, if possible the crea- 
tion of personal beauty, deserve to be recognized as 



COSMETICS. 15 

forming a legitimate and worthy department of medi- 
cine. " Cosmetics," it should be called, if one can rid 
that word of its current baser meaning as applied to 
the meretricious arts of the toilette. 

If one reflects how much mental suffering even slight 
deformities give,. and how often the loss of beauty is 
the forerunner of the loss of health, it will not seem 
idle or unworthy of the highest medical skill to take 
cognizance of such trifles. Indeed, each generation 
witnesses more and more attention paid to 

"Reparer des annees les irreparable outrages/* 

as the gallant and oft-quoted line of Racine phrases it. 

This department of " cosmetics," " chirurgica cos- 
rnetica," as the old surgeons styled it, of which we 
speak, is a border-land between science and idealism, 
between the physician and the artist, and must hence- 
forward take its position as an important field of pro- 
fessional industry. 

It is, we say, a border-land between the physician 
and the artist. It is wholly within the province of 
neither. Health is the source of beauty, but the stream 
does not stay forever by its fountain. All the precepts-, 
all the hints, which the diligent study of the healing art 
gives, all the suggestions proffered by hygiene and 
physiology, we shall attentively consider and apply. 
But is this all ? By no means. Then come those aids 
to beauty provided by chemistry and pharmacy, those 



1G PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

secret arts and mysteries of the toilette, by which we 
outdo nature at her best, and crown her highest efforts 
with an added glory. 

If we take under our special charge this slighted 
branch of study, if we seek to bend to its elucidation 
whatever the austere oracles of medicine and the hum- 

9 

bier artisans of the shops can furnish us, let not the 
effort be disdained. Innocent devices to heighten the 
effect of beauty have nothing derogatory about them. 
For, as the wisest of poets has said : — 

" Nature is made better by no mean, 
But nature makes that mean : so, o'er that art, 
Which, you say, adds to nature, is an art 
That nature makes. 
* * * * This is an art 
Which does mend nature— change it rather : but 
The art itself is. nature." 

It is our intent to lay down those rules by which 
the most desirable form, color, and grace in the human 
body can be obtained and preserved ; and further to 
tell of those artifices, if you will, by which these quali- 
ties can be imitated when they cannot be acquired. 
Some of these means are dangerous and injurious. 
Against them we shall speak words of warning. Others 
are harmless ; and to them there can be no objection 
from the physician's point of view. But we know our 
responsibility does not cease here. Do we run the 
danger of ministering to vanity, or to deceitfulness ? 



BEAUTY WITHOUT VANITY. If 

There is no vanit}- , necessarily, in making the best of 
ourselves ; and a desire to please others in our appear- 
ance, as well as in our actions, has nothing about itr 
reprehensible. What good thing may not be applied 
to some ignoble end ? There is nothing blameworthy 
in the love of beauty, nor in its cultivation ; nothing 
contrary to purity or religious faith. 

It has been well said by a genial writer, Mr. James 
Bruce : " All the arguments against women using every 
art to heighten and preserve their charms resolve 
themselves into the hateful belief of the ascetic, that 
everything that is offensive to man is agreeable to 
heaven, and all that is agreeable to man is offensive to 
God — a belief that has characterized all false religions 
from the beginning of time to the present hour." Did 
we think differently, no word of ours should be spoken 
in favor of personal beauty and its enhancement. 

These cares and arts will enable many a wife to re- 
cover and to retain the affections of her husband, and 
many an unmarried woman to obtain that attention 
and courtesy the want of which gives her now unhappy 
moments. 

That, as some have said, these arts encourage de- 
ceitfulness, is not to be accepted. For the same reason 
we should discard wigs, false curls, false teeth, and a 
host of other devices to conceal deformity, which are 
now in universal use. 

What results ma}' not flow from this self-cultivation? 



18 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

What a fine thing it will be when women shall combine 
the comeliness of youth with the wisdom of age ! It 
is not without precedent. 

Diana of Poictiers, Duchess of Valentinois, was the 
reigning beauty at the courts of three successive kings 
of France. The historian Brantome knew her well. 
" I saw this noble dame," he tells us, " when she was 
seventy years of age, and she was as charming, as fresh, 
and as lovely as any lady of thirty. Her beauty, 
grace, and majesty were such as she had ever pos- 
sessed. 'Tis a pity that such a body is now buried in 
the earth. It was said that certain skilled doctors and 
subtle apothecaries prepared for her daily a potion of 
soluble gold, and that this or some similar drug it was 
that preserved her beauty." Soluble gold it was not, 
Seigneur Brantome, but another and potent recipe, 
which is not yet lost. 

" And this recipe is — ?" 

Patience ! we are not yet at that part of our subject. 
The secret of the famous Diana of Poictiers is not to 
be lightly told at the beginning of a book. The pru- 
dent traveller spares his funds at the outset of his 
journey, and is only generous to well-tried companions. 
But rest assured that the Fountain of Youth yet flows 
for her who diligently seeks it. 

And now we shall try a definition. They are notori- 
ously difficult to make, and probably we shall have no 
greater success than many another. 




GRECIAN FEMALE. 



A DEFINITION. 19 

What is personal beauty ? 

It is the combination of correct proportion and color 
with perfect performance of function. 

Perfect performance of function requires health and 
grace ; proportion and color are under the control of 
fixed laws of taste. 

In accordance with this definition, our plan shall be 
to take up the human body as a whole, and then in its 
several parts, and show first what is the true artistic 
ideal of perfect form in each. Then we shall examine 
one by one the defects and imperfections to which each 
is subject, and how these may be remedied either by 
medical or by cosmetic art. Many such flaws in 
nature's handiwork we shall find may readily be pre- 
vented, or cured, jor, at least, concealed, by simple 
means within the reach of all. But others require the 
hand of the surgeon or the skill of the physician. It 
is gratifying to think how few blemishes there are that 
by one or another means at our command may not be 
lessened or wholly removed. 

Tor the matter of color, which includes the com- 
plexion, etc., we shall treat of that in a chapter devoted 
to the skin ; and as the hair is, in the language of 
anatomy, an appendage of the skin, what we have to 
say about it will find an appropriate place at the close. 

That other branch of personal beauty which treats 
of dress, the arrangement of the hair, and the study of 
corporeal grace, we shall but casually touch upon, as it 



20 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

lies almost wholly aside from medical science, and 
within the exclusive jurisdiction of the artist. 

But at the outset our fair reader who would be 
fairer must not understand us as promising too much. 
We do not come with an Elixir of Youth and Beauty, 
which she can drink at a draught, and bid defiance to 
Old Time ? No ! but in a hundred ways, here a little 
and there a little, by obeying rules of health, by diet 
and exercise, by devices of surgery, and by mysterious 
arts of pharmacy, she will learn how to transform 
herself from homely into passable, from passable into 
attractive, from attractive into beautiful. 

Is this candid confession a disappointment ? 

Alas ! after all, it is only by self-denial that we can 
gain anything of consequence in this disjointed world 
of ours. II faut souffrir pour etre belle; if we wish 
beauty, we must bear a smart or two. We must put 
up with them. There is no other way. Though many 
a one is like the French lady who announced her 
intention of visiting England, but declared she would 
not go by sea, as she was certain to be sea-sick. 

" But, madame," objected one of her hearers, " Eng- 
land is an island." 

"Oh yes, of course it's an island," she replied; "I 
know that well enough. But then, isn't there some 
way, perhaps, of passing around and reaching it by 
land?" 



THE HUMAN FIGURE AS A WHOLE. 

ITS CORRECT PROPORTIONS. 

"T7^ VERY young lady who has taken drawing lessons 
-" — and nowadays, when fashionable seminaries 
teach all the arts and sciences, what young lady has 
not done so ? — knows that there are certain rules by 
which we form the outlines of the human figure. 
Each part must be in proportion to the others. 

These rules were derived from a very careful study of 
the most celebrated ancient statues, and from measure- 
ments of the finest living models. They cannot be 
transgressed, even in the smallest degree, without 
offending a practised eye. The story is told of Lavater, 
the celebrated physiognomist, that on one occasion he 
visited a portrait painter to look over his produc- 
tions. Presently he stopped before one of the paint- 
ings, and, pointing to the ear, declared that it was 
impossible that that organ, as represented, could have 
been associated with the other features. The artist, in 
surprise, confessed in that instance the sitting had been 

(21) 



22 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

incomplete, and that he had painted the ear from 
memory only. Fortunately few people are so critical 
as Lavater, or the artists would have a sad time. 

We have no intention of going into such minutiae, 
only proposing to give in general terms what the 
human figure should be, and what we shall say applies 
particularly to the female figure. For men and queens, 
says an old French proverb, have the privilege of being 
ugly, aux hommes et aux reines on passe la laideur. 

The height should be exactly equal to the distance 
between the tips of the middle fingers of either hand 
when the arms are fully extended. Ten times the 
length of the hand, or seven and a half times the length 
of the foot, or five times the diameter of the chest from 
one armpit to the other, should also each give the height 
of the whole body. The distance from the junction of 
the thighs to the ground should be the same as from 
that point to the crown of the head. The knee should 
be precisely midway between the same point and the 
bottom of the heel. The distance from the elbow to 
the tip of the middle finger should be the same as from 
the elbow to the middle line of the breast. From the 
top of the head to the level of the chin should be the 
same as from the level of the chin to that of the 
armpits, and from the heel to the toe. 

With these measurements at command any one can 
readily find out how near she approaches to the perfec- 
tion of form. But let her not be disrated at discover- 



CARE IN INFANCY. 23 

ing sundry discrepancies. The matter is not to be 
understood too rigidly. These rules are intended to 
apply to a certain age and a certain style of beauty, 
and though true as rules, like all rules, they permit 
exceptions and suffer limited variations. 

HOW TO PERFECT THE FIGURE. 

Who would have a perfect form cannot begin too 
early. Nay, the mother should commence the physical 
education of the child long before its birth. Thus did 
the dames of ancient Greece who gave the world a race 
unmatched for beauty in all history. 

So, too, during the period of nursing the careful 
mother will see to it that her child has abundance of 
good wholesome food, for nothing so certainly produces 
deformity as ill-nourishment. She will take care that 
the infant does not lie more frequently on one side 
than the other, for this will make it "lopsided;" that it 
is changed from arm to arm in nursing and carrying 
for the same reason ; that it does not walk too soon, 
lest it become bandy-legged; that it does not wear 
tight clothing or bandages, as these will readily press 
its tender flesh and yielding bones into uncouth shapes. 

Another period of life, where it is of the greatest 
importance that sedulous and intelligent care should 
guard over the child, is when she is passing through 
that momentous change which transforms the girl into 
the woman. 



24 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

Very much has been said of late years of the value 
of well-regulated gymnastic exercise as a means of 
health, and it were difficult to say too much on that 
topic. But comparatively little has been done or said 
with reference to increasing the beauty of the form by 
such means. To be sure, there is the art called " Calis- 
thenics," from two Greek words meaning beauty and 
strength, but its aim has been confined to the latter 
quality only. So it is with gymnastics in general. 
Yet it must be remembered that it is very unusual in 
man, and still more so in woman, to find the graceful 
form of perfect symmetry connected with uncommon 
muscular vigor, or even remarkable powers of endur- 
ance. This is a familiar fact to surgeons who examine 
recruits for the army and the naval service. 

The old Greeks, from whom/we have learned so much 
concerning beauty, knew this very well, and divided, 
therefore, their gymnastic exercises into three classes. 
The first was for training the soldiers to severe, pro- 
tracted labor, where endurance was the quality re- 
quired; the second was for the athletes, the partici- 
pants in the Olympic, Isthmian, and Pythian games, 
who sought to combine power with activity ; while the 
third class had as its object the development of har- 
monious proportion, the correction of defects in the 
figure, and the cure of vices of conformation. It is this 
third class of gymnastic exercises which is peculiarly 
suitable to girls and women, all the movements being 



LE GRAND MONARQUE. 25 

moderate, and designed to call into play each of the 
muscles in proportion to its prominence in the perfect 
human form. Such culture causes a rapid and astonish- 
ing improvement in the figure, and we hope that it will 
soon be introduced into all our leading seminaries, as it 
already has been in some. 

DEFECTS IN STATURE ; TOO TALL OR TOO SHORT. 

American women, as a rule, measure between five 
feet two inches and five feet four inches in height. 
Those who are much above or much under these 
figures will be unpleasantly aware of the fact. They 
should remedy it. But how? Is there anything more 
wholly out of all range of possibility than to grow 
shorter or taller at will? Is it pretended that nowa- 
days by taking thought one can add a cubit to his 
stature? 

No ! our pretensions do not extend that far. But 
we profess to have some hints which may be of service 
even here. Most persons have read more or less about 
Louis XIY. It is not easy to escape him in French 
literature. He was called by his courtiers Louis le 
Grand, and as it is difficult to break an old habit, the 
adjective clings to him still. Well, all the memoirs of 
his time speak of him as of commanding stature, and 
we might suppose from their descriptions he was at 
least six feet in his stockings. In fact he was about 
five feet seven inches, and the rest of his height was 
3 



26 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

made up by high heels, a judicious costume, and a per- 
ruque of magnitude. If we learn nothing else about 
him, it is worth while to know this, for it illustrates 
how readily a diminutive person can conceal this 
defect of nature. 

It is not so easy, one might think, to veil unusual 
height. In sooth it is a more serious problem, though 
it is not wholly discouraging. Those who have visited 
the galleries of the Louvre in Paris will recall an 
ancient and celebrated statue known as the Venus of 
Milo. We know not whether others have had the same 
experience, but for ourselves we sate before that mar- 
ble wonder for hours studying its perfect outlines, 
its matchless drapery, its depths of expression, and it 
never occurred to us that the height was extraordinary. 
Our astonishment was great on seeing in some guide- 
book that it measured six feet two inches. The fault- 
less proportions prevent any impression of excessive 
size in this 

"Daughter of the gods, divinely tall, 
And most divinely fair." 

The same is constantly observable in life. Persons 
whose forms correspond closely to the artistic model 
rarely appear either too tall or too short, and those 
who have from nature these defects in growth should 
devote unusual attention to the symmetrical develop- 
ment of the body by gymnastic exercise, and practise 
those modes of costume adapted to their size. 



THE RIGHT AND LEFT SIDES. 27 

They should likewise bear in mind that height de- 
pends chiefly on the length of the lower limbs and not 
on the body, so that when sitting tall and short persons 
present very little difference. 

WANT OF SYMMETRY OF THE BODY. 

It is a curious fact to consider that our body is 
formed of two entities united together. One side of us 
has nearly all the organs that the other has, and 
arranged in almost precisely the same manner. What 
is the use of two ears, two eyes, two nostrils, when one 
would, and at a pinch does answer the purpose quite 
as well ? We do not know. 

Still more curious is it to observe how the one side 
generally gets the better of the other, and becomes 
stronger, handsomer, and more adroit. Even the two 
halves of our body, twin brothers on ne peut pas plus, 
cannot live together without rivalry. Generally it is 
the right half that comes out winner. This is supposed 
to be because the great bloodvessels, as they leave the 
heart, are so arranged as to carry that side more 
nourishment. More rarely it is the left, and only 
occasionally do we see a person who can control the 
muscles of either side with equal power. In most 
persons the difference between the development of the 
two sides is quite visible in every member. 

Now if we examine the finest statues in this respect 
we shall find no such inequality. Indeed, one of the 



28 PERSONAL BEAUTY, 

first objects which an able teacher of gymnastics pro- 
poses to himself is to equalize the strength and skill of 
the two arms and legs. 

Frequently a want of symmetry is due to the bad 
habit of sleeping mostly on one side. We can recall 
quite a number of such instances. Such a habit should 
never be indulged. It is ruinous to grace in walking, 
and has, moreover, an injurious effect on the general 
health by displacing the internal organs, and subjecting 
them to unequal pressure. We always urge those 
w T hom we have the privilege of advising to sleep quite 
as often on the one side as on the other, and, if they 
can, occasionally on the back. Persons who are 
accustomed to sleep together should change sides from 
time to time. This is especially important in young 
girls. 

Why some persons are left-handed is not clear. It 
is not merely a habit they learn in infancy. We have 
known every precaution taken with children to pre- 
vent it, tying a bag over their left hands, fastening it 
in the sleeve or to the side, and other devices, for 
months together, but without success. Nevertheless, 
all these means should be tried, and, when they fail, 
the child must be taught to use both hands alike — to 
be "ambidextrous," as it is called — which is rarely 
impossible. Left-handed people, however "dexterous" 
they may be, are apt to create an unpleasant sensation 



LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 29 

of awkwardness in the minds of observers. In French, 
gaucherie, from gauche, the left, means clownishness. 

It is next to impossible for an adult to overcome 
this habit. The best they can hope for is to gain a 
sufficient command over the right arm and hand to be 
able to use it at table, at the blackboard, etc., as others 
do. Still, they have for their consolation the example 
of many a poor fellow in the war, who having lost his 
right arm has acquired singular proficiency in a year or 
two with his left. We have in our possession several 
autograph letters of that distinguished soldier and 
philanthropist Major General Howard, who lost his 
right forearm at the battle of Fair Oaks. They were 
written about eighteen months subsequent to his 
wound, and the penmanship is quite legible and 
regular. 

A want of symmetry in the shoulders is very com- 
mon among those who write or paint steadily. The 
right shoulder usually becomes higher, and the bones 
more prominent. These persons should practise daily 
and regularly sitting with the left shoulder elevated 
and the right depressed. They should avoid low- 
necked dresses, and on state occasions conceal the 
lack of uniformity by a soft padding. A course of 
calisthenics is also of great service. 

There is a complaint which would be comical were it 
not so distressing to the sufferer. It is that in which 
there is a partial palsy of one-half of the face. The 



30 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

effect is most singular. Look at one side, and it may- 
be smiling and full of expression; look at the other 
and it is motionless and inexpressive. In a much 
less degree this effect is not unusual. Often there 
is a want of innervation, that is, the nerve force is 
not distributed equally to the two sides of the face, 
and one-half does not correspond exactly to the other. 
If we examine faces critically from in front (not from 
the side, as there the profile common to both halves 
confuses our judgment) we shall rarely find one in 
which the sides perfectly correspond. This is a mis- 
fortune or a fault which generally can, and always 
ought, to be remedied. When the difficulty is in the 
innervation, electricity applied by a skilful hand is of 
benefit ; in other cases continued pressure or friction 
is effective. 

RELAXED AND STOOPING FIGURES. 

It is the proud distinction of man to walk upright. 
Every other animal must bend and hug the earth. 
Stooping we associate with age and infirmity. There- 
fore an erect figure has ever been deemed essential to 
beauty. Only some passing vagary of fashion would 
sanction a " Grecian bend." No one in the least 
acquainted with the laws of beauty would adopt or 
approve it. 

A figure straight, lithe, and graceful will excuse a 
multitude of faults. It can be acquired with great 



CROOKED PEOPLE. 31 

certainty if proper care is taken during the period of 
growth. 

One of the most common blemishes is that of being 
"round-shouldered" — stooping forward with the upper 
third of the spinal column. This destroys the contour 
of the neck and the pose of the head. It throws the 
shoulders upward and forward, entirely depriving them 
of their natural, graceful slope. The chest is also hol- 
lowed, and the swell of the breast is thereby lost. 
Sometimes this habit is a consequence of debility or 
disease. It then demands special medical treatment. 
For ordinary cases exercise with light dumb-bells, and 
a careful avoidance of continuing long in stooping 
positions, will suffice. Shoulder-braces are largely 
sold, designed to hold the shoulders back. They are of 
value, but only as subordinate aids. What is wanted 
is to strengthen the muscles of the back, and qualify 
them to do their duty without fatigue and without 
assistance. 

There is a disfiguring and painful disease called cur- 
vature of the spine. Thousands of women in this 
country suffer the agony of the rack, are hindered 
from all active usefulness or pleasure, and are well- 
nigh deformed by this terrible complaint. It fre- 
quently arises from some imprudence in " getting up" 
after a confinement, sometimes from an injury, and 
very often from neglect of health at the epoch of 
change in } T oung girls. It undermines their health 



32 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

just as they are budding forth into womanhood, blast- 
ing their prospects when fairest, and shrouding in 
gloomy clouds the bright morning of life. 

The reader may find elsewhere portrayed minutely 
the insidious, stealthy advance of this disease. 1 Here 
we have to do with its prevention and its cure. It 
often leads to what is called "spinal irritation," and is 
usually treated by blisters, by cups, by scoring the 
back with hot irons, and by long continuance in bed. 
These severe remedies may bring good results, but in 
most cases an entirely different and milder method 
may be employed with the best effect. It is that by 
support. The spine, the shoulders, and the sides are 
propped and sustained by light steel braces with springs 
and pads, so that the curvature is impossible. The pa- 
tient is quite as much at rest when standing as when in 
bed, and the irritation and pain, caused as they are by 
the pressure of the spine in its unnatural position, dis- 
appear at once. We have known women who had never 
stood up for years, without suffering, walk erect and 
with ease as soon as a carefully-made, accurately-fitting 
brace was applied. But such an instrument must be 

1 The Physical Life of Woman : Advice to the Maiden, Wife, 
and Mother. By Dr. George H. ISTapheys. Published at Phila- 
delphia, by George Maclean, 719 Sansom Street. This is a 
complete treatise on the hygiene of woman in her relations 
both married and single. 



IMPORTANT HINTS. 33 

adjusted with scrupulous exactitude to fit the figure, or 
it will do more harm than good. 

The same means may be applied with very beneficial 
results in another deformity quite common and indi- 
rectly quite noticeable ; this is when the form is lost by 
child-bearing. This is often accompanied with distress- 
ing sensations of "goneness" and emptiness at the pit 
of the stomach. It gives a stoop to the figure and a 
shufiiing gait. A well-fitting support here is all that 
is required. 

One of the most common causes of ungracefulness 
in motion remains to be told. It lies in diseases pecu- 
liar to women. None but the physician knows how 
frequent these diseases are. None but he fully appre- 
ciates what a terrible foe they are to beauty, not to 
speak of health and happiness. The lady reclining on 
the fauteuil, and the wash-woman standing at the tub, 
victims to these distressing maladies^ alike reveal in 
the positions they assume, and in the gait they adopt, 
an unconscious effort to u save themselves," and to 
avoid the suffering which an unwary motion or a pain- 
fill position gives. 

What a marplot this is to beauty! What chance is 
there for free and supple motion when pain strikes 
through one at every unconsidered turn! And how 
common is the misfortune ! 

It were vain for us to go at length, or at all, into 
this subject. We can only say that so long as such a 



34 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

condition exists, grace in motion is impossible, and 
personal beauty of all kinds is endangered. Three- 
fourths of those American women who grow old, fade, 
and wither before their time, owe their premature age 
to neglected or ill-treated disease of this character. 
Therefore they should make every effort by a careful 
hygiene to avoid them. 

We have recently been consulted by several ladies 
from the Southern States for a peculiar condition of 
the system which they say is not unusual there, and 
which they attribute to the mental anxiety, the pros- 
tration of hopes, the losses, and the change in social 
condition, brought about by our civil war. This is a 
general relaxation of the muscular system. They were 
not emaciated, nor did they suffer any pain, or appear 
in bad health. But the muscles were soft and ill- 
defined, the gait shambling and irregular, and the 
motions awkward, and made with disproportionate 
effort of the will. They had taken quantities of the 
usual tonics without avail, and were almost in despair. 
We prescribed the daily use of electricity, medicated 
douche baths, warm and cold, friction, a regulated diet, 
and no medicine. These means, together with change 
of air, resulted satisfactorily in all from whom we have 
since heard. 

Besides such general causes of relaxed and stooping 
figures, there are others which come strictly within the 
province of medicine. There are various diseases, 



FREAKS OF NATURE. 35 

acute and chronic, which lead to the same defects. 
But these will always be brought to the notice of the 
medical adviser, who, we hope, will bear in mind that 
he has before him in the case of every woman a double 
duty, first to save her life and health, and secondly to 
preserve her personal charms. 

SUPERFLUOUS AND DEFECTIVE MEMBERS. 

Nature, at times, plays curious freaks. Generation 
after generation, in some families, come into the world 
with six toes, or a double thumb, or a cleft lip. All 
who have perused Hawthorne's delightful romance, 
" The Marble Fawn," will remember what he says 
about the furry and pointed ears which from time im- 
memorial had distinguished the Counts of Monte Beni. 
They took a sort of pride in the trait, but to most 
persons in whom such a variation from nature's plan 
appears, not as the certain stamp of ancient lineage, but 
as an annoying defect, any such peculiarity is distress- 
ing. The advice of all good surgeons is to have a 
superfluous member trimmed or lopped quite off in 
early childhood, or as soon as possible thereafter. 

Occasionally, but, thank heaven, rarely, a more as- 
tonishing deformity of this nature appears. We were 
present at an operation some years ago where a distin- 
guished surgeon of Philadelphia removed from the 
cheek of a child some months old a second and dis- 
tinct child, which had been growing from that portion 



30 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

of the face from before birth, a sort of parasite, deriv- 
ing; its life from that of its twin sister. 

Instances are also known of children born without 
an arm, or a leg, or some other member. When we 
were denizens of the Quartier Latin, in Paris, haunting 
the precincts of the Ecole de Medecine, a woman used 
to stand daily on the Pont Neuf across the Seine, ask- 
ing alms, and to excite the pity of the passers-by, 
showing her arms, each of which terminated above the 
elbow in a button of flesh. She had been so from 
birth. Probably some of our medical readers will re- 
call her case, as Professor Paul Dubois used occasion- 
ally to exhibit her before his class. 

The loss of a member by accident is much more fre- 
quent. To whatever cause the deformity may be 
owing, modern art offers a ready and admirable re- 
source in the "artificial limb." Several expert mecha- 
nicians and eminent surgeons have devoted their 
abilities to perfecting these contrivances, until now 
there is little left to be desired. The limbs are fault- 
less in form, light, easily adjusted and removed, and 
not very dear. Miss Kilmansegg with her golden leg 
is quite behind the times, for now her gold will buy 
her a more shapely leg of wood and steel than ever she 
owned in the flesh. The spokes and fellies of the 
human wheel have been so thoroughly studied and 
closely imitated, that the most critical eye can no 
longer detect the presence of an artificial limb when 



THE FAT PARTY. 3f 

properly made and used. The wearer may walk, or 
even waltz, with his leg of human make, and write 
readily with the hand he has bought of the manu- 
facturer. 

ON CORPULENCE AND LEANNESS. 

Brillat Savarin is a charming writer, and his Physio- 
logie du Gout is a delightful book, racy and spirituel. 
But he has now and then a naughty vein of satire. 
For instance, in one passage he says it is the life-study 
of every woman, at least of every pretty woman, to 
become either a little stouter or a little thinner. Now 
of course we reject any such aspersion as this, but 
then it is true, and we don't deny it, that the precise 
medium between corpulence and leanness is hard to 
attain and harder to keep ; so that if this matter 
attracts a good deal of attention, it is nothing more 
than right, aesthetically speaking, that it should. And 
when such a condition of body goes on to the extent 
of obesity on the one hand, or emaciation on the other, 
what charms can survive the heavy change ? 

Look at a siren of two hundred and fifty pounds, some 
female Falstaff. Her cheeks are red and swollen, her 
eyes are half hidden by the folds of flesh, her voice is 
short and husky, her figure is that of a barrel, her 
walk is a waddle. None but an Abyssinian can take 
her for a beauty. Add to this, that such a load of 
flesh is a positive discomfort, and often a distress, 
4 



38 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

equal to a disease. The movements are slow and 
painful, exercise is next to impossible, many little 
actions cannot be performed. She cannot button her 
own gaiter or stoop to pick up a pin. She is unequal 
to going up and down stairs, to shopping on foot, to 
dressing her own hair. Dancing, horseback riding, 
calisthenics, these are out of the question. Sluggish- 
ness of body soon brings sluggishness of mind, and 
her slowness to follow in conversation and her inapt- 
ness in repartee add themselves to the unfavorable 
impression her bulk produces. 

We hardly know whether the opposite condition is 
not quite as deplorable. Who can admire hollow eyes, 
prominent cheek bones, sunken cheeks, angular and 
shrunken shoulders where the low-necked ball-dress 
displays at the most inopportune season the sharp 
collar bones and edges of the shoulder blades, the flat 
breast and narrow chest, the skinny arms, the shrivelled 
hands, and the thin ankles ? How many a once plump 
and blooming girl answers this description after a few 
years of fashionable life, and neglect of simple and 
easy rules of health ? 

If we have drawn these sketches with inexorable 
fidelity, it is not to give an additional sting to those 
already painfully conscious of their unprepossessing 
aspect; it is only with a view to make the careless 
fully aware of their defects, and to inspire them with 



THE PROPER WEIGHT. 39 

an earnest determination to escape such a fate, whether 
it be already present, or only impending. 

" Escape, yes, that is easily said, but how ? Can we 
escape?" 

It can be done. Physiology and medicine can 
now prescribe certain diets, administer certain drugs, 
lay down certain rules, which control so definitely the 
increase and decrease of flesh, that any one not a 
victim to actual disease can diminish or add to his 
weight with as much certainty as he can do the same 
with a domestic animal. These diets, these drugs, 
these rules, we shall now proceed to describe plainly 
and minutely, so that any one can follow them without 
doubt or hesitation. 

And first, it is important to know what is the proper 
weight which a person ought to have in the eyes of the 
physician and the artist. This depends on several 
factors. It is always in proportion to the height, but 
is less in woman than in man, and greater in the same 
sex as years advance. We take as our standard a 
woman between twenty-five and thirty years, and give 
the following table of what her weight should be in 
proportion to her height — 

If her height is 5 feet she should weigh 110 pounds. 
" " " 5 feet 1 inch " 115 " 

" u $ 5 feet 2 inches " 120 " 

" u " 5 feet 3 inches " 125 " 

" " u 5 feet 4 inches " 130 ." 

" u " 5 feet 5 inches " 135 " 



40 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

and so on, adding five pounds for each additional inch 
of height. This scale when applied to men should be 
increased by from ten to twelve pounds, as the bones 
are larger, the muscles firmer, therefore the body for 
the height heavier in the male sex. 

Now if this flesh is properly disposed over the body, 
we shall find the limbs and features presenting gently 
waving outlines, and a predominance of curved over 
straight lines in all the members. The proportions 
between the circumferences of the different members 
and the body will be found to vary little in persons 
of the same height, and to be nearly the same in per- 
sons of any height. There is in such figures an ex- 
haustless variety included in a perfect harmony. 

We made the reservation that the rules we are about 
to give will be nigh infallible unless a person is a 
victim of some disease. It is quite important to bear 
this in mind, for there are diseases which first manifest 
their presence by a change in the figure. Many per- 
sons suppose corpulence is a sure indication of excel- 
lent health. This is far from true. Certain maladies 
are always attended by the deposition of layers of un- 
healthy fat. These persons are rarely long-lived. 
"Fatty degeneration" is the name given to a danger- 
ous complaint especially characterized by a tendency 
of the tissues to change into fat. 

Often, too, corpulence is a protection thrown out by 
the system against some threatening disease. If the 



SOME CAUTIONS. 41 

corpulence is then successfully attacked, the victory 
may cost the person her life. A case is recorded by 
Dr. Maccary where an obese child was reduced in flesh, 
but became ever after subject to epileptic fits. A 
number of instances have been recently published in 
medical journals, where ladies have brought on fatal 
disease of the kidneys by a too determinate and un- 
wise reduction of their weight. A case came recently 
under our own notice, where a young lady weighing 
nearly two hundred pounds, entered upon the reduc- 
tion of her size with great zeal, but little discretion. 
She succeeded, but developed in the process the seeds 
of hereditary consumption of the lungs. No such 
attempt should ever be made, therefore, until some 
skilful physician has not only examined for any lurk- 
ing signs of disease, but has inquired carefully into the 
personal and family history, and, to the extent of 
human power, satisfied himself there is no danger. 

Then, also, there are certain periods in the physical 
life of woman when such a proposed change should 
under no circumstances be commenced or continued. 
These are at puberty, during pregnancy, during nurs- 
ing, and about the change of life. The reasons for 
this caution will be obvious to every intelligent woman. 

Furthermore, the seasons of the year must be con- 
sidered. The "bills of fare" that we are about to give 
can be better filled at one season than another, so that 
less self-control will be needed to follow them out. 



42 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

Other things being equal, that season should he 
chosen when the person usually feels in best health. 

With these precautions, the more abrupt, decided, 
and total the change, the better. There is no wisdom 
and less satisfaction in a gradual reform. This 
change includes three points, diet, habits, and medi- 
cines. And first as to diet. 

Here we can in no wise escape the mention of Bant- 
ing. The pursy Englishman with his tract " On Cor- 
pulence" will figure conspicuously for some time to 
come in treatises on this topic. Some men of science 
were outraged at his presumption in trenching on their 
domain. They either cried out, "It is not new," or 
else, "It is not true." But the stubborn fact remained 
that the fat old gentleman did grow comfortably spare. 

The truth of the matter is that certain foods are 
much more readily converted into fat than others, and 
that if persons sedulously avoid such, they will gradu- 
ally reduce their weight. Now it has long been known 
in a general way, that these articles are those which 
contain sugar or starch in large quantities. But when 
Mr. Banting paid his guinea, and expected some sound 
practical advice in exchange for it, the doctor either 
pooh-poohed at his anxiety, told him not to worry 
himself about his size, that it was natural at his age, 
and so forth ; or else shook his head ponderously, and 
said oracularly, "Avoid saccharine and amylaceous 
articles of diet," disdaining any farther specification. 



A BILL OF FARE. 43 

At length he met a medical adviser who took the pains 
to point out just what articles he should and should 
not eat. 

It is true that any kind of food which will support 
life can make fat. But certain kinds make it much 
more rapidly than others. Then it must be remem- 
bered that a great part of what we popularly term fat 
is simply watery fluid in the tissues. When this is 
very abundant it is vulgarly called "bloat." Reduce 
this watery fluid, and confine the diet to such food as 
is least fat-making, and the problem of controlling the 
weight is solved. 

A truce to physiology and let us to business. What 
the fat reader wants is no long-drawn dissertation on 
dietetics, carbonaceous and non-carbonaceous food, 
alimentation, and what not, for which she has no mind 
and no appetite, but a classified list of what she may 
and may not touch, a bill of fare ready made to her 
hand, well arranged and easy of reference. 

We happen to be provided with just such a docu- 
ment, and have the honor to lay before her our 

Bill of Fake to Decrease in Weight. 
Breakfast (from 6 to 8 A.M.). 
Lean beef, mutton, game, cold fowl, or other meat, except 
pork, bacon, or veal. 

Any fish except catfish, eels, salmon, or fresh mackerel. 
Eggs boiled, dropped, or in an omelette, most of the yelk 
being avoided. 



44 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

A small piece of ship's biscuit, gluten or bran bread, or 
thin dry toast from stale bread. 

Coffee or tea, one cup, without milk or sugar. Russian tea 
is very suitable. It has a thick slice of lemon floating in the 
cup instead of milk or sugar. 

Dinner (from 1 to 3 P. M.). 

Soup — maigre. 

Fish — of any kind, except those mentioned above, prepared 
plainly. 

Meats — Mutton, beef, game, fowls, or any other lean meat 
with the exceptions mentioned above, the fat being carefully 
skimmed from the gravies. 

Vegetables — Beans, peas, cabbages, onions, apple-sauce, 
tomatoes, asparagus, eggplant, or any other vegetable except 
beets, oyster plant, turnips, potatoes, carrots, rice, green peas 
and corn, pickles. 

Gluten bread, or a small portion of bran bread. 

Dessert — Fruit cooked without sugar, water-ice, cheese. 

For drinks, pure water, and if accustomed to spirits, better 
stop them. 

Supper (from 6 to 7 P. M.). 

Cold meat from the dinner. 

A small portion of dry toast or gluten bread, cheese, water- 
ice. Plain fruit without sugar. Raw tomatoes. Apple sauce 
without sugar. The white of dropped eggs. 

Tea without milk or sugar. 

We might have stated the quantities in this list, but 
it is unnecessary. The appetite should be satisfied, 
but never overloaded. Fluids of all kinds should be 



FORBIDDEN FRUIT. 45 

diminished to the lowest degree consistent with com- 
fort. The articles of food which should be most 
sedulously avoided are these : — 

Bread, butter, milk, sugar, potatoes sweet and white, 
molasses, fat meat, Indian corn, pastry, beer. 

The more nearly every one of these is absolutely cut 
off, the more rapid will be the reduction in the weight. 

One about to undertake this diet should be weighed 
the day she commences and once a week for several 
months. The obvious decrease in rotundity will cheer 
her in her self-denials. This happy result should be 
quite evident in a week's time. We promise her with 
the most confident air in the* world, that if she will 
rigidly and faithfully follow out these precepts and 
abstain from the forbidden fruits (if we may ask so 
much from a daughter of Eve), she will most cer- 
tainly see a cheering diminution in that period, which 
will regularly continue until she is no longer, with 
Falstaff, " out of all reasonable compass." 

This bill of fare must, we repeat, be enjoyed in mode- 
ration. It is well to eat enough, for the idea so often 
entertained of starving one's self thin is foolish. Such a 
course cannot possibly succeed unless the health too is 
ruined. But it is better to eat too little than too 
much. If this causes a feeling of emptiness at the pit 
of the stomach, it can be relieved by chewing a grain 
or two of coffee. Like Epictetus' philosophers the cor- 
pulent "must guard and plot against themselves." 



46 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

There is no great self-denial demanded from our fat 
friends thus far. But now we are going to be more 
disagreeable. We are going to criticize a number of 
delightful little self-indulgences. We shall not, how- 
ever, be so odious as Dr. Unger, a German physician 
of renown. A patient once applied to him for some 
means to shorten his ever increasing waist-band. 

44 You can't do it with more honor to yourself,'' 
replied the surly old doctor, " than by studying algebra 
all night, and chopping wood all day." 

No, we shall not go that far. We shall allow our 
corpulent client to sleep, but not over six or seven 
hours, and we stipulate for a hard bed. Pressure is a 
sovereign disperser of fat. She ought to rise early, 
and the first thing in the morning wash herself from 
head to foot with strong brine, of the temperature of 
the room. A handful of rock-salt to a basin of water 
is the proportion. She must then rub herself dry with 
a rough towel, or, still better, a pair of rough flesh 
gloves. If in a city, a Turkish or Russian bath twice 
a week is not amiss. 

There is to be no nap at all, not a wink, during the 
daytime. If she feels drowsy, she should take some 
active exercise. Exercise it is true is not indispen- 
sable, but it is a useful assistant. We have explained 
that much of so-called fat is only water. This may be 
driven from the system by perspiration, and by the 
action of the kidneys and the lungs. If, therefore, in 



WHA T ABOUT DR UGS. tf 

addition to the diet, daily exercise is used, the diminu- 
tion will be more rapid. Riding, rowing, and parlor 
gymnastics may be commenced. But we know how 
disagreeable exercise is to the stout, so we state dis- 
tinctly that the diet we have recommended is alone 
sufficient to reduce the size. 

The bowels are to be kept loose, and for this pur- 
pose nothing is so suitable as Congress, Kissingen, 
Bedford, or Carlsbad water. But these must be taken 
in moderation, as must all other fluids. 

The mind should be employed, as indolence is ever a 
provocative of obesity. There are always matters 
enough to think about or to study, if one has the will 
for it. 

Lastly, a word is to be said about medicines. Several 
of these have a decided effect on the deposition of fat, 
and aid in dispersing it. But they are edged tools, 
very apt to cut those who ignorantly meddle with 
them. The most renowned are liquor potassae, acetic 
acid, bromide of ammonium, iodide of potassium, the 
haloid salts of cadmium, and the fucus vesiculosus. 
Most of these are powerful stimulants to the secretory 
organs, and none of them should be used except under 
the supervision of a physician. Still less should any 
recourse be had to the patented, secret, or advertised 
nostrums for the reduction of corpulence. They are 
without exception perilous to the general health, or 
wholly inert. No medicines whatever are necessary if 



48 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

the diet table be strictly observed, and although we 
know that the use of some of the drugs we mention 
assists the effects of diet, they can nearly always be 
dispensed with. 

ON LEANNESS. 

All this time our fat friends have been crowding 
upon us, and we have only said a word to the spare 
ones. Now their term is come. We have matter of 
consolation for them too. They need it, poor things. 
There are countries in the world where a woman ever 
so fat, even if she rivals the famous Daniel Lambert, 
who weighed seven hundred and thirty-nine pounds, 
will be esteemed only the more attractive. But a 
scrawny bony figure — this is, like poor poetry, intole- 
rable to gods and men. The only lady who we ever 
heard derived advantage from such an appearance 
was Madame Ida Pfeiffer. She relates that some- 
where in her African travels the natives had a mind to 
kill and eat her, but she looked so unpalatably lean 
and tough that the temptation was not strong enough, 
and thus her life was saved. 

Probably if a census were taken with this object in 
view, we would find more persons who wish to increase 
their weight than there are who are anxious to decrease 
it. We hear more complaints from the stout, because 
obesity is a more troublesome condition than exces- 
sive spareness. But the latter is quite as fatal to 



ST. CHRYSOSTOM ON FATNESS. 49 

beauty, and unquestionably far more common in the 
young. Even in the days of St. Chrysostom, the ques- 
tion " how to grow stouter" appears to have been one 
anxiously considered by the ladies of Antioch, where 
the good father preached. He was not in the least 
inclined to indorse this vanity, and told them one day 
in his sermon, that " the virtue of the body does not 
consist in fatness, but in the capacity of bearing tor- 
ments." We do not think that in this day of wasp- 
like waists and tight laced figures the Saint's words 
would be appropriate. 

Leanness like corpulence is often a family trait, and 
is much more frequently than that condition associated 
with disease. We may lay it down as a rule that when 
a person in seemingly good health commences to fall 
away in flesh, there is some lurking disorder of the 
nutritive system at work. Three times out of four 
this disorder will be found in the liver or stomach, and 
if taken in hand early, and treated wisely and energeti- 
cally, not only will good looks but health also be 
rescued. 

In quite a number of spare women, marriage has a 
singularly beneficial influence. They improve rapidly 
in flesh and in color. But no woman need marry for 
this object. We can promise her a comfortable plump- 
ness without recourse to so risky a remedy. We 
explained a few pages back that some articles of food 
made much more fat than others. Let her live on 
5 



50 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

these, and that she may do so the more readily, here 
is a 

Bill of Fake to Inckease in Flesh. 
Breakfast (8 to 10 A. M.). 

Bacon, ham, sausage, pork steak, mutton or veal, with rich 
gravies. 

Fresh fish, especially eels, catfish, trout, or salmon. 

The yelks of eggs, fried, scrambled or dropped. 

Buckwheat, Indian, or wheaten cakes, with plenty of butter 
and molasses, syrup, honey, or sugar. Fresh bread and 
butter. 

Fried or boiled mush or grits, with butter, sugar, cream, or 
syrup. Fried or boiled potatoes. 

Fresh milk, plain or sweetened, warm or cool, chocolate, 
cacas, or coffee, with plenty of cream and sugar. 

Lunch (about noon). 

Eggs and milk, or fresh milk, with sweet cake, preserves, 
jellies, honey, bread and butter. 

Dinner (about 3 P. M.). 

Soup — Gumbo, okra, calf's head, mock turtle, sago. 

Fish — Salmon, eels, catfish, trout, with dressing of drawn 
butter or cream. 

Meats — Roast pig or roast pork, lamb with guava or currant 
jelly, fried bacon, boiled pork, roast lamb or beef (fat), roast 
or fried veal. 

Vegetables — Buta-baga turnips, sugar-beets, potatoes (roast 
or mashed with cream), parsnips, carrots, green peas and corn, 
salad with cream dressing, grits, rice, macaroni, vermicelli. 

Dessert — Suet pudding with cream dip, tapioca or starch 



THE MOST FATTENING DIETS. 51 

pudding, arrowroot, sago, cream cakes, meringues, custards, 
sweetmeats, honey, nuts, bananas, sweet grapes, pastry, ice 
cream. 
Milk or cream. 

Supper (about 7 P.M.). 

Bread and butter, or bread and milk, with preserves, jams, 
or syrup, oatmeal porridge. Mush with milk or molasses. 
Cold bacon or mutton. 

Milk sweetened or plain. Tea with cream and sugar. 

Every person must watch and weigh himself, and 
thus learn what articles of diet are in his individual 
case most fattening. Mr. Banting found from his 
experience that to him sugar was the most product- 
ive of fat. If he ate five ounces of it, he increased 
one pound ! Dr. Stark, likewise speaking from his 
own knowledge, declares in favor of suet as that which 
fleshed him most rapidly. Another high authority 
says that milk, especially when taken fresh and from 
an Alderney cow, is superior to anything else. If one 
can drink three or four pints of it a clay, an increase 
in weight is as certain, and perhaps more certain, than 
by swallowing cod-liver oil. Starch in the form of 
arrowroot, sago, tapioca, or farina, is equally lauded 
by others. 

To be avoided on the other hand are: pickles, 
vinegars, highly spiced food, sour wines or fruits, 
acid vegetables. 

To decrease in size a diet chiefly animal is required ; 



52 PERSONAL BEAUTY, 

to increase, a diet largely vegetable is most efficient. 
Of vegetables, the roots are as a rule fattening, while 
those which ripen above ground have not such an 
effect. 

There is no need to stuff one's self with these appe- 
tizing dishes. Remember it is not the quantity but the 
kind of food, and its ready conversion into flesh that 
are demanded. It is essential that the digestion be 
kept in perfect order, therefore an overloaded stomach 
is a positive injury. 

In some parts of Asia, where a considerable embon- 
point is deemed essential to beauty, the art of fatten- 
ing damsels "for the trade" has been carried to a 
high degree of perfection. They sleep long and late 
on soft beds, and they avoid violent exercise or dis- 
turbing thoughts. They bathe in lukewarm water, 
and take while in the bath a broth made from fat 
chickens boiled with rice or with arrowroot. On leav- 
ing the water they are softly rubbed down with scented 
vegetable oils, such as pure olive oil boiled with gum 
benzoin, which not only preserves it from rancidity 
but imparts to it a rich aroma. The oil prevents the 
watery fluid from passing out in the perspiration, and 
softens the outer layer of the skin. They drink mode- 
rately of a sweet mixture of honey and water, and 
take daily a preparation of the castor bean, which 
slightly moves the bowels and increases the appetite. 

All these details are not applicable with us, but this 



HYGIENIC HINTS. 53 

is the true method to pursue. Irregular hours of rest 
or for meals, eating between meals, anxiety, overwork, 
severe exercise, these are sure to maintain a condition 
of leanness. 

As for the various drugs which have been suggested, 
their use had better be confined to simply maintaining 
the regularity of the natural functions. Some of the 
mineral waters of Germany and our own country have 
acquired a reputation for increasing the flesh, proba- 
bly owing to the fillip they give to the digestion. 
These are Toplitz, Gastein, and Landeck, in German}^ 
and the White Sulphur and chalybeate springs in this 
country. 

There is danger that such a bill of fare as this latter 
may make some people " bilious, " and others gouty, if 
long persisted in. These tendencies may be com- 
bated by a careful attention to the regularity of the 
functions of the body. A glass of Congress or Bed- 
ford water, every morning before breakfast, is a salu- 
tary draught in the former case, and in the latter an 
equal amount of Gettysburg water will be found of 
service. The latter contains, it is said, a small quan- 
tity of the substance lithia, from which it derives its 
virtues. 

Any one will more willingly run these dangers of 
over-feeding than adopt the method of increasing flesh 
recommended by Galen and some other physicians of 
the olden time. This was nothing more nor less than 

5* 



54 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

a sound flogging every day or two ! This old Roman- 
writer tells us that in his day the slave dealers whipped 
their chattels soundly, so as to get them in fine, plump 
condition for the market. Then, too, it was so much 
cheaper than mutton and corn! "No doubt," says 
Dr. John Bell, in his work on Beauty, " such flagella- 
tion tends to increase the circulation at the surface, 
and give tone to languid muscles ;" but no one need 
be afraid that we are proposing to recommend it. 



THE NECK AND BUST. 

THE PROPER FORM OF THE NECK. 

"TTTE believe it is Burke who somewhere says, "that 
* * of all the beautiful objects in nature, none sur- 
passes the well-moulded neck of woman." There are, 
indeed, a softness of outline and a harmony of motion 
about it worthy to challenge the admiration of philo- 
sophers. 

In length it should be one-half the height of the 
head from the level of the chin to the summit, and at 
its narrowest part should have twice the circumference 
of the wrist. 

Through the neck the great vessels pass to the head, 
and the spinal column conveys the sensations of all 
parts of the body to the brain, where resides the intel- 
lect. Therefore it is of marked significance in read- 
ing character, and reveals much to the physiognomist, 
and also to the physician. The crises which take 
place in the physical life of woman, and her liability 

(55) 



56 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

to certain serious accidents are portended by the shape 
of her neck. When it is full in front it signifies a 
plethoric constitution, liable to the accidents which 
arise from a too sanguineous habit. At about the age 
of forty a deposit of fat occurs low down at the back 
of the neck, over the vertebrae, forming sometimes a 
small prominent mass, which reveals the age more cer- 
tainly than words. 

WRY-NECK AND GOITRE. 

The most common defects in the contour of the 
neck are owing to irregular action of the muscles 
drawing it over to one side, or to the peculiar swell- 
ing of the glands known as goitre. 

Children not unfrequently seem unable to hold the 
head erect for any length of time. It drops forward 
on the chest or to one side. Others have " wry-neck," 
in which complaint the head is drawn forcibly toward 
one shoulder by a shortening of the muscles. 

Such conspicuous disfigurements as these should 
have prompt attention, the more so as they are readily 
remedied by proper means. It has been recently dis- 
covered that an injection of the active principle of 
belladonna beneath the skin often acts with great 
efficiency, but other cases require surgical appliances 
and sometimes an operation, quite too formidable to 
be described here. 

Goitre is a swelling in the front part of the neck. 



CURIOUS NOTION OF BEAUTY. 5f 

It grows slowly, but finally arrives at such a size that 
it constitutes a serious deformity. To a slight extent 
it is by some regarded as an advantage, giving the 
neck a full and rounded appearance. In Switzerland, 
where it is very prevalent, it is indeed considered 
quite essential to beauty. A traveller in that country 
relates that once he heard some Swiss ladies com- 
menting on the personal appearance of a fine-looking 
Englishman. " What a handsome man he would be," 
exclaimed one of them, "if he only had a goitre!" 
Doubtless the Englishman was well content at the 
absence of this additional charm. 

In this country we have seen quite a number of 
persons with a tendency to this deformity, especially 
in districts where limestone water had to be used. 
This is one of its supposed causes, but in one case 
now under our treatment, and in others we have seen, 
it is undoubtedly hereditary. It occurs more fre- 
quently in females than in males, and is apt to make 
its first appearance about the period of puberty. 
Although not a dangerous, it is a most objectionable 
complaint on account of the deformity it causes, and, 
moreover, when the tumor increases in size, it gives 
rise to many inconveniences by pressure on the large 
bloodvessels in the neck, and renders the voice harsh 
and coarse. 

When taken early, it can be cured almost without 
fail, but if allowed to run on for many years the sub- 



58 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

stance of the swelling often changes into a bony sub- 
stance, to remove which is beyond the reach of art. It 
is important, therefore, that parents should be on the 
watch, and call the attention of the family physician 
to any fulness of the neck, at an early enough period 
to allow him to administer those remedies which at 
this epoch of the disease are almost certain to remove 
it promptly and permanently. Change of climate is 
advantageous but not necessary. 

THE SHOULDERS AND CHEST. 

Rounded, sloping, regular shoulders are indispen- 
sable to beauty, and they are the more important as 
full-dress frequently requires them to be displayed. 
They should be equal in height, and slope symmetri- 
cally in graceful curves from the base of the neck to 
the summit of the chest. 

One of their most frequent faults is to be square 
instead of curved — to start almost horizontally from 
the base of the neck on either side. For this de- 
formity — it is nothing less than a deformity — most 
women have nobody but themselves to thank. In 
four cases out of five it has been brought about by too 
close-fitting corsets, which press the shoulder-blades 
behind, and collar bones in front, too far upward, and 
thus ruin the appearance of the shoulders. When 
this ugliness is once acquired, it is by no means easy 



A BAD HABIT. 59 

to do away with it. An avoidance of the cause, and 
appropriate gymnastic exercises promise the most. 

We have previously remarked (page 29) that writers 
and painters, sitting as they usually do, with one arm 
elevated, holding the pen or brush, and the other at 
rest or nearly so, almost certainly come to have one 
shoulder higher than the other. This gives the whole 
bust a one-sided appearance, eminently unpleasing. 
Young ladies who are of a literary turn of mind, there- 
fore, or are artistically inclined, and yet whose devo- 
tion to ideal and intellectual beauty does not quite 
lead them to the neglect of that physical beauty which 
nature has bestowed on them, will act wisely to correct 
this tendency by constant care and exercise. 

A bad habit or some local weakness occasionally 
leads to holding one shoulder slightly in advance of 
the other, or to bringing them both forward, giving 
the chest a hollow, " dished" appearance, exactly the 
reverse of what it should have. 

Such a conformation is the more unsightly in woman, 
as she has naturally a more prominent chest than man. 
Her collar-bones are longer, and her shoulders are 
pressed by them farther outward and backward, in 
order to give room for spreading that banquet for an 
unborn guest, which it is her duty and her destiny to 
furnish. There should be no salient bones or angles, 
but the outline should sweep in a series of gentle 
curves from the neck downward, each slightly in 



60 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

advance of the other, until they merge in the semicir- 
cular arcs which define the chief and highest beauty 
of woman — the breasts. 

There should especially be no hollows under the 
collar-bones, over the apex of the lungs. When pre- 
sent, they signify more than a want of comeliness— 
they betoken the danger, if not the actual presence, of 
that fatal and frequent disease, pulmonary consump- 
tion. It is precisely in that spot that the physician 
searches for the earliest warnings of .this malady, and 
who can think of mortal, perishable beauty, when he 
sees the stealthy hand of death already claiming these 
charms ? 

THE BREASTS AND WAIST. 

Symbols of maternal love and fruitfulness, deeply in 
sympathy with all feminine instincts and sensations, 
well-formed breasts have ever been considered by 
artists essential requisites of beauty. They should be 
firm and elastic, rising from the chest true hemispheres 
in shape, situated neither too high nor too low. The 
distance from the nipple to the lower edge of the collar 
bone of the same side should equal that from one 
nipple to the other, which, in turn, should be precisely 
one-fourth of the circumference of the chest at their 
level. The space between the bases should equal the 
diameter of the base of either. 

Yet alas ! in this artificial life of ours, how often 



A CURIOUS FASHION. 61 

have we seen a female bust that answered these de- 
mands ? Or rather, have we ever seen one ? "I never 
knew before I came to Egypt,' 7 says Lady Duff- Gordon 
in her recent book of travels, " what a female breast is. 
We never see it in Europe." Neither do we in America, 
without it may be in some vigorous young country 
girl, who has grown up in ignorance of the arts which 
thwart nature. 

Not that taste approves now-a-days that fashion 
which early in the last century prevailed in France 
and Spain. Then, in accordance with the mode o£ 
the day which despised everything which was sponta- 
neous and delighted in the artificial and the abnormal, 
the type of elegance was a perfectly flat breast. The 
fine ladies used to wear from early girlhood circular 
plates of lead, strapped firmly against their breasts, in 
order to cause their absorption. Of course, these noble 
dames were utterly disqualified from nursing their 
own children, but this troubled them little. 

Unfortunately, modern ladies, in their desire not to 
appear flat-breasted, are guilty of precisely the same 
violation of nature's laws. From early youth they 
wear pads of hair or cotton, which they fasten over the 
breasts with straps and the corset, so as to make a 
" form." These act in a similar manner as the plates 
of lead. The breasts are flattened, distorted, partly 
absorbed, and often completely unfitted for their 
natural function. The nipples are drawn in, and be- 



62 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

come retracted and tender. Physicians daily encounter 
the evil results of such folly, and many a mother has 
to forego the sweet toil of nursing . her own children 
by having injured her breasts at the behest of fashion. 

If something of the kind must be worn to make up 
the form in obedience to the mode, let it be the hollow 
hemispheres of vulcanized India-rubber or of woven 
wire, which are at once firm and elastic, which exert no 
pressure on the gland itself, yet give a perfect and 
fascinating outline. They are now manufactured of 
various sizes to suit, and may be- had in this and other 
cities. 

An instrument, which seems to have claims as a pro- 
moter of health and beauty, has been invented for 
improving the shape of the breast. It is a bowl of 
glass to which is fitted a stopcock. The air is ex- 
hausted by means of an air syringe, and a flow of 
blood to the part follows. It is highly likely that this 
device would be of considerable service, and that the 
breasts would be rendered much more shapely, and 
better adapted to fulfil their functions. The theory of 
the instrument is philosophical, and if used regularly 
for a sufficient time must certainly restore the organs 
in great measure to their proper shape, size, and 
function. As the breasts are delicate, and liable to va- 
rious inflammatory diseases, proper caution should be 
observed not to injure them by too violent applications, 
and whenever tenderness is produced, the instrument 



OVERGROWTH. 63 

should be laid aside until the sensation subsides. After 
having had them once explained, any one can use these 
vacuum cups with readiness and safety. 

The opposite trouble, breasts of inordinate and in- 
convenient magnitude, also occurs. We know a lady, 
who with every opportunity and faculty to shine in 
social life, has denied herself to general society for 
years, on account of this malformation. In her case, 
as in most, it is associated with an undue mental sen- 
sitiveness regarding her form, which is a constant 
source of unnecessary distress to her. 

Sometimes the overgrowth is astonishing. Pro- 
fessor Gross, of Philadelphia, mentions one case where 
each breast weighed fifteen pounds, and not long since, 
a case was operated on in Paris, where each weighed 
nearly thirty pounds. When the excess in size is 
moderate, the breast can readily be reduced by con- 
stant inunction of an ointment of cadmium or iodine, 
the administration of iodide of potassium internally, 
and especially by long-continued, firmly-applied ban- 
dages of adhesive plaster. This treatment must be 
adopted under the supervision of a medical adviser, as 
ignorant management may verj* easily lead to severe 
suffering. 

Those who would improve the contour of the chest, 
can do so with great certainty and in a short space of 
time as follows : Loosen the clothing, and standing 
erect, throw the shoulders well back, the hands behind, 



64 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

and the breast forward. In this position, draw slowly 
as deep an inspiration as possible, and retain it by 
an increased effort for a few seconds. Then breathe it 
gradually forth. After a few natural breaths, repeat 
the long inspiration. Let this be done for fifteen or 
twenty minutes every day, and in six weeks' time a 
perceptible increase in the diameter of the chest and in 
its prominence will be very evident. 

The breasts are liable to many diseases, especially to 
tumors, which destroy their shape. But these come 
strictly within the province of the surgeon, and need 
not be mentioned here. So, too, the breasts require 
especial attention during and after confinement, while 
nursing, and at weaning, both to preserve their health 
and their beauty, but as these points have been spoken 
of at length, in the " Physical Life of Woman," to 
which we have referred, the repetition is superfluous. 
We would, however, call attention to the fact, that if a 
woman does not intend to nurse her child, she should, 
to preserve her breast in shape, dry up her milk at the 
outset by artificial means. 

The lower part of the chest is more capacious than 
the upper, and incloses some of the most important 
organs of the economy. At the waist, the body 
should have the least circumference. While this is 
true, it is an absurd and ugly fashion, not sanctioned 
by any rule of art, and in positive opposition to the 
laws of health and beauty, to compress, fasten, and 



HOW BEAUTY IS SPOILED. 65 

lace it down to that "wasp-like waist," against which 
artists and physicians have so long and so vainly pro- 
tested. 

The circumference of* the waist in a woman five feet 
high should not be less than twenty-five inches, and 
from this it should increase half an inch in circum- 
ference for every additional inch in height, so that a 
woman five feet eight inches high should measure 
twenty-nine inches around th^ waist, of course with- 
out the clothing. 

The result of any greater compression than this is 
disastrous in every respect. We have already shown 
how it spoils the shape of the shoulders, and flattens 
and displaces the breasts. Were this all, it might 
pass. But far more serious consequences arise. The 
lungs are cramped and cannot expand. The blood, in 
consequence, is not purified, the complexion soon be- 
comes muddy, the lips pale or purple, and if there is 
any tendency to consumption, it is promptly de- 
veloped. The pressure downward is equally produc- 
tive of harm. A physician who pays special attention 
to diseases of women, recently told us that four-fifths 
of the cases of uterine complaint which he had to 
treat in unmarried women were directly traceable to 
this violent and unnatural pressure upon the contents 
of the abdomen. Our own experience convinces us 
that his statement is hardly overdrawn. With these 
consequences plainly staring them in the face, it is 



66 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

scarcely credible that women, who wish to preserve 
either their health or their beauty, will deliberately 
continue to take so certain a means of destroying 
both as this compression of the waist. 

If support is what is needed, a light steel brace is 
infinitely preferable, more cleanly, more durable, and 
more healthful. Excellent ones can be bought in all 
our large cities. If it is desired to reduce an exu- 
berant form, we have* already laid down the rules 
for that. If the object is to "make up the figure," 
those have the best success who, like the Italian la- 
dies, depend on the arrangement of the dress and a 
careful carriage, and not on forcing the body into uiv 
natural positions. 

There has been said so much on this topic by phy- 
sicians that it is probably a tiresome one to readers. 
Perhaps they are ready to paraphrase Shakspeare 

and exclaim against the doctors as " fellows of 

iteration." We make our attack on the custom from 
a new quarter, and in the interests of beauty itself de- 
mand that respect be paid to fundamental laws of 
health. Unless we are implicitly obeyed here, we 
cannot keep our promise that our readers shall remain 
beautiful longer than they are young. 



THE HEAD, FACE, AND EXPRESSION. 

THE SHAPE OF THE HEAD. 

rPHE head is that part of the body which distinguishes 
-*- the noble races and individuals from those which are 
ignoble. Its highest type is never seen except in the 
most civilized families of the white race, where, by its 
symmetrical proportions, it manifests the superiority of 
this over other varieties of our species. 

It should appear as a perfect oval, whether looked 
at from above downward, or from in front. Its height 
should be a little less than one-eighth of the whole 
height of the person. The greatest diameter should 
extend from the forehead to the back of the skull above 
the neck, the shortest from one temple to the other. 
The two hemispheres should be perfectly alike, and 
the curve of the summit regular and even. 

As the seat of the brain and the mental faculties, it 
has been supposed that by an examination of the out- 
side of the head, some conclusion could be formed of 

(67) 



G8 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

the character and abilities of the person. Uncles the 
name of phrenology, this popular notion was cultivated 
diligently some years ago by itinerant lecturers, but of 
late the business seems to have fallen off. We well 
remember a friend at college, now holding a prominent 
and responsible position as an educator, who pointed 
out to us with great satisfaction a small lump about 
the middle of his forehead, which he confidently main- 
tained had grown there since he had addressed him- 
self to the study of history. Since then, like others, 
he has lost faith in Gall and Spurzheim. 

To confess the truth, we know absolutely nothing 
about the functions of the various parts of the brain. 
The least difficult theory is that the anterior third is 
the seat of the intellectual faculties, the middle third 
controls nutrition and emotion, while :the posterior 
third governs muscular action, and the sentiments of 
reproduction. 

No doubt the capacity of the skull, that is to say, 
the size of the brain, has a close connection with the 
mental power. But it is very far from true that a 
large head is a guarantee of a strong intellect. Dan- 
iel Webster had the largest head in Congress, and 
John Randolph the smallest, but the latter was very 
little inferior to the former in close, logical argument, 
and was much quicker at repartee and satire. Women 
have somewhat smaller heads than men in proportion 



SYMMETRY OF THE HEAD. 69 

to their height, but in many respects women are un- 
questionably superior to men. 

The symmetry of the two sides of the head is not 
always preserved. The celebrated anatomist, Bichat, 
■who, though dying at the early age of thirty-one, had 
already achieved world-wide fame by his medical dis- 
coveries, was wont to maintain that in such instances 
the mental faculties must be impaired. But he proved 
in his own person that his view was untenable, for on 
an examination of his body after death, one hemis- 
phere of the brain was found decidedly larger than 
the other. 

Some years ago we had under our care a child 
which was in excellent health, but in whom the left 
side of the head was larger than the right. We coun- 
selled delay, and since then the skull has gradually 
assumed a more correct shape, and the mind is en- 
tirely sound. In such instances, unless nature acted 
soon, we should not hesitate to use judiciously regu- 
lated pressure. Every one knows there are some 
savage tribes who flatten or elongate the heads of their 
infants without ill results. At a tender age the bones 
of the skull will readily adapt themselves to a mould, 
and that without injury to the delicate parts within. 

A common disease of children, causing sad defor- 
mity of the head, is known as "water on the brain," 
or hydrocephalus. This is a serious complaint, and 
requires prompt medical assistance. 



70 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

The forehead in women should be rather low and 
broad. This was the rule of the ancient artists. It 
was thought that a high forehead gives a bold or else a 
shrewish expression to the countenance. Nevertheless, 
we admire none of the " foreheads villainous low," de- 
noting a limited or a perverse intellect. The height 
from the bridge of the nose should exactly equal the 
length of the nose. 

In some persons the hair grows down upon the fore- 
head, destroying its contour and beauty. This may 
be remedied by carefully removing the hairs, which are 
generally thin and fine, by one of the depilatories to 
be mentioned hereafter. Charlotte Bremer, in her Life 
of her sister, Frederica Bremer, relates that this was 
one of the girlish troubles of the gifted authoress, and 
her mother often regretted the disfigurement. One day 
Frederica cut off the hair around her forehead with 
the scissors. Her mother, not at once perceiving what 
she had been about, remarked in the course of the day, 
" Why, Frederica, your forehead is not so low after 
all." This delighted her daughter, but soon the hairs 
commenced to reappear, stiff and bristly. But with 
heroic perseverance, Frederica pulled them out, one 
after another, with a pair of tweezers, until she had 
achieved that fine high forehead, which those who saw 
her in her visit to this country may remember. 

A retreating forehead is always a marplot to beauty, 



WINKELMAN'S LAW OF BEAUTY. 71 

and gives one the aspect of fatuity or half-idiocy. 
One of the Indian tribes in our western country dis- 
like it so much that they press the skull of the child 
forward, so that they all have a highly intellectual 
appearance. 

Wrinkles and spots on the forehead we shall treat of 
in the chapter on the skin. 

A forehead broad in proportion to its height gives 
an air of dignity and queenliness, always much ad- 
mired. There is an ancient Spanish poem dating from 
some time in the Middle Ages called "The Thirty 
Beauties of Woman," one of the lines of which is: — 

"Tres anchas, los pechos, la frente, y el entrecejo." 

" Three parts should be broad : the breast, the fore- 
head, and the space between the eyebrows." 

This dictum is strictly in accordance with the laws 
of ideal proportion. The head, in every view of it, 
should appear larger in the superior part, and gradually 
diminish as it descends. The beauty of the face, ob- 
serves one of the great critics of art (Winkelman), de- 
pends largely on the angle which the line of the fore- 
head seen in profile makes with the line of the nose. 
The greater the angle, in other words, the nearer the 
profile approaches a straight line, the more majestic 
and soft is the general expression. This observation, 
founded on a long contemplation of Greek art, is emi- 
nently true. 



72 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

THE FACE, AND EXPRESSION. 

The face, like the head, should form nearly an oval 
when viewed from in front. Its height, from the upper 
border of the forehead to the base of the chin, should 
be three times the length of the nose, measured along 
its base, and equal a line drawn along the eyebrows, 
from the outer extremity of one to that of the other. 

A line drawn from the cavity of the ear to the most 
prominent part of the upper jaw, should meet another 
line drawn from the central and highest point of the 
forehead to the same point, almost at right angles; 
that is, the upper jaw should project very little or not 
at all beyond the line of the forehead. This angle is 
called the " facial angle," and is deemed of much im- 
portance in studying heads. 

The lower part of the profile should neither recede 
nor project more than the upper, and whether regarded 
from half, quarter, or full face, the outline should pre- 
sent soft curves, not abrupt angles, or sudden depres- 
sions. The bones, which here approach nearer the sur- 
face than in other parts of the body, should be well 
clothed with flesh, but not to the extent of hiding 
their general forms. 

It is easy to lay down these rules one after another, 
but how are we to conform to them ? What aid can 
cosmetic science here offer to one not gifted by nature 
with a handsome face ? 



PA SSIOJV IN DBA TH. f 3 

Directly, perhaps, there is little to be done, but indi- 
rectly a great deal. For, after all, it is not these 
mathematical diagrams which we have been describing 
that make up beauty. It is expression, the soul, if 
you will, shining through its mortal coil. 

And here we have no longer to do with unyielding 
bone and solid flesh, but with material infinite^ more 
plastic than even the tempered clay in which the sculptor 
forms his model. The vast majority of persons are 
neither repulsive nor beautiful in feature, and it is the 
expression of their faces which grants or denies them 
popularity and success. Therefore this is a most 
weighty branch of our theme, and all the more so be- 
cause expression is very much under our own control, 
if we only know it. 

For what makes expression ? Chiefly the action of 
certain muscles of the face. Why it is that joy or 
sadness, love or hate, fear or anger, should each call 
into action a particular muscle on this prominent and 
visible part of the human frame, we do not know. But 
the fact can be shown by this strange experiment: 
Connect the poles of an electric battery with these 
separate muscles on the face of a corpse, and you will 
see the ghastly spectacle of the passions of rage, of 
mirth, of lust, of hate, one after another brought into 
horrid relief on the countenance of death. 

The habitual use of one of these muscles above the 
other, enlarges it, and leaves on the countenance marks 

7 



74 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

which observers ever associate with the passion. No 
one but can recall some face where petulance, or grief, 
or pride, has left indelible imprints. Like a mirror, 
the unguarded expression tells tales of all that is pass- 
ing within us. The skilled eye reads at a glance the 
passing thought. This authentic anecdote is told of 
that expert diplomatist and profound student of human 
nature, the Prince de Talleyrand. For a short time he 
was an exile to this country, and resided in New York 
city. One day he was walking with a friend along the 
Battery, in those early times a fashionable promenade. 
Turning and scanning closely the face of his com* 
panion, he suddenly exclaimed : " Wretch ! you are 
planning to assassinate me I" Detected by what 
seemed a superhuman insight, his pretended friend 
threw himself at his feet, and* confessed that he was 
proposing in his mind to murder and rob the prince. 
As men are only too apt to indulge the unpleasant 
rather than the pleasant emotions, it has ever been 
advised to control the features, and whether in com- 
pany or alone, by a mental effort to prevent our 
thoughts from acting on our expression. Volto sciolto, 
pensieri stretti, the countenance open, the thoughts 
shut, is the Italian's motto ; and our own Shakspeare 
sings of his love — 

" In many's looks the false heart's history, 
Is writ, in moods and frowns and wrinkles strange ; 
But heaven in thy creation did decree, 



A LAW OF COSMETICS. f5 

That in thy face sweet love should ever dwell ; 

Whatever thy thoughts or thy heart's workings he, 

Thy looks do nothing thence but sweetness tell. 

How like Eve's apple doth thy beauty grow 

If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show ?" 

It should be the aim of every one thus to become 
" the lords and owners of their faces," and it is in the 
power of every one, not irrecoverably wedded to some 
grimace, to do so. 

The first step is to break at once from any of those 
bad practices which the French call tics, such as 
winking violently or with one eye, frowning, sniffing, 
or "turning up the nose," thrusting the tongue into the 
cheek, pointing the lips, pursing up the mouth or 
letting it loll open, opening widely the eyes, wagging 
the head, grinning, and so forth. Eemember to obey 
this rule, which indeed is worthy to be classed in the 
Decalogue of good breeding as well as of cosmetics : — 

Never "make faces" while you are talking. 

No tic is more certain to damage a pretty face than 
this twisting and contortion of the features. Cultivate 
placidity of expression, and rest assured that there is 
no danger of vacancy of countenance. On a calm face 
the passing emotions mirror themselves with a pleasing 
variety, like clouds on the surface of some unruffled 
mere ; but with jerking and twitching muscles, the 
emotions are broken and lost, like the reflections of 
those same clouds on a wind-scourged sea. 



76 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

There are some persons who, when they weep, screw 
up the countenance in such an unheard-of manner, that 
it forces the looker-on to be amused, even while he 
sympathizes ; and there are others who, when they 
laugh, do such violence to all the laws of good looks 
that it is enough to make the judicious weep. We 
have heard not a few public speakers, worthy men, 
too, who forfeited half their power by grimacing in 
the pulpit like a mime on the stage. School girls 
often learn to chew with their mouths open, and with 
an exertion of the muscles of the jaws quite super- 
fluous, even though, like Sancho Panza, they chew on 
both sides at once. 

All such habits are enemies to beauty, and are also 
inconsistent with good breeding. They must be re- 
formed, not indifferently,* but at once, and altogether. 

The reform must not stop here. It must extend to 
the mind itself. Violent passion, or long indulgence 
of any one emotion, is not less hurtful to the face than 
it is to the mind. Serenity of disposition is the true 
Fountain of Youth. 

We live in the ancient city of Penn, and many a 
visitor has asked us: "Doctor, why is it these old 
Quaker ladies whom I meet in the streets have such 
fresh complexions, and so few wrinkles? Is it their 
poke-bonnets which keep off the sun ? Or have they 
some secret V* 

No, madam, it is not their poke-bonnets, as you are 



TELL- TALE BL USHES. *j 7 

pleased to term them, nor have they any secret, or at 
least it is an open one. But it is very stuff o' the 
conscience with them to yield to no inordinate emo- 
tion, to be temperate in all things, and to hold under 
strict command their bodies and their minds. You 
see they are rewarded by prolonged good looks ; and 
if you step around to an insurance office you will learn 
their chance of long life is notably better than that of 
the rest of us. 

Vacancy or stolidity of expression, though less in- 
tolerable than the perpetual twitching we have just 
described, should be shunned with equal care, and can 
be conquered with as certain success, if one sets about 
it diligently. It is easy to appear interested, or 
merry, or sad, when we are so. 

Not a few women and many a young man are an- 
noyed by a tendency to blush on slight occasion. 
The tell-tale blood mantles the cheeks and forehead at 
most inopportune moments, and seems quite beyond 
the control of the mind. The utmost exertion of voli- 
tion does not hinder it. In some constitutions no 
endeavor, no custom of society can overcome it. 

Count Alexandre de Tilly had been page to Queen 
Marie Antoinette, and had lived all his life in the 
best circles ; but he confesses in his " Memoirs" that 
this difficulty had been insurmountable. "I verily 
believe," he says, " that if any one were abruptly and 
in public to say to me : i Count, I accuse you of con- 



■J 8 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

spiring to murder the Khan of Persia,' my blushes and 
embarrassment would convict me." 

Diligent cultivation of self-control is the unsatis- 
factory and yet the only suggestion which occurs to 
us to offer. 



THE EYES, EYEBROWS, EYELASHES, AND THE SENSE 
OF SIGHT. 

"VT feature of the face is more expressive than the 
-L * eye, none is more important to have under com- 
mand, and to use to the best advantage. Of all 
senses that of sight is most valuable to us, and pro- 
vides us the most gratifications. It can supply to an 
astonishing extent the lack of the sense of hearing. 
A lady recently told us that some years since she was 
introduced to, and conversed for an hour with, the 
wife of the celebrated Professor M., so well known for 
his discoveries in electricity. What was her astonish- 
ment afterwards to learn that that lad}' was entirely 
deaf, but had maintained a conversation for that 
length of time with a stranger without making an 
error, simply by observing the movements of the 
mouth and the expression ! 

The eyes should divide the upper from the middle 

(19) 



80 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

third of tlie face. They should be horizontal, and of 
a color to correspond with the complexion and the 
hair. In size they should be medium, and neither 
sunken nor prominent. Their motion should be free, 
slow rather than jerky, and always in the same axis, 
that is, they should not be irr the least cross-eyed. 
They should be bright but not glittering, moist but 
not languishing, clear but not sharp. As Tennyson 
elegantly expresses it : — 

" Eyes not down-dropt nor over bright, but fed 
With the clear-pointed flame of chastity, 
Clear without heat, undying, tended by 
Pure vestal thoughts in the translucent flame ^ 
Of the still spirit." 

They should be strong enough to read the type in 
which this book is printed at a distance of four or five 
feet, and in form, position, color, size, and power, the 
one should exactly correspond with the other. 

THE EYEBROWS. 

The ej^ebrows are very significant of character and 
emotion. The Latin writer Pliny supposed that a 
portion of the soul had its dwelling there, and the Ger- 
man historian Herder says that the arched eyebrow is 
the rainbow of peace, but when contracted it is the 
strung bow of strife. 

Their beauty consists in having them moderately 
thick, especially at the inner third, the outer extremity 



THE EYEBR O WS. g 1 

tapering to a point with soft, silken, regular hairs, of a 
color a shade darker than the hair of the head, slightly 
curved upwards, separated on the bridge of the nose, 
and with their edges clearly defined against the skin. 

In some persons the eyebrows join above the nose. 
According to Goethe, this is indicative of a sensuous 
nature. It impresses one disagreeably, as it gives the 
appearance of a perpetual frown. Nevertheless, there 
are some nations, the Turks and Moors, for instance, 
who esteem it a beauty. When their women do not 
have it naturally, it is imitated by dyeing the inter- 
vening space with a preparation called surme, com- 
pounded of galls and antimony. As Americans do 
not approve- of this opinion, it is more pertinent to in- 
quire how the obnoxious hairs may be removed. This 
can readily be done either by the tweezers, or, what is 
much less painful, by one of the depilatories we shall 
mention in the chapter on hair. 

When the eyebrows are irregular and bristly, the 
offending hairs may be maintained in their proper place 
by adhesive pomade, or cut close to the skin one at a 
time, or removed entirely if they are superfluous. It 
is not well to trim the eyebrow generally, as it makes 
it coarse, and in using the tweezers great care must be 
taken not to pull hairs which ought to remain. 

When it is desired to thicken or strengthen them, 
two or three drops of oil of cajuput may be gently 
rubbed into the skin every other night ; but here, and 



82 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

ahvays when wiping them, the rubbing should be in 
the direction of the hair, from the nose outward, and 
never in the reverse direction. 

When it is intended to deepen their hue, it should 
not be done by a dye, but with a pencil of dark poma- 
tum, which allows the greatest accuracy of application, 
and has no influence on the skin or eyes ; or by means 
of a needle smoked over the flame of a candle, which 
is equally innocent, but less permanent. 

THE EYELIDS AND EYELASHES. 

The eyelids should neither be widely separated nor 
half-closed. The former habit gives a scared, uneasy 
look, damaging to the repose of beauty; the latter, 
either a sleepy or a sensual expression, equally far 
from the ideal of art. The half-closed lids are charac- 
teristic of indulgence, and seem adapted, says an ele- 
gant writer on aesthetics, " to diminish or partially to 
exclude the excess of those sensations which make 
even pleasure painful. " All the pupil should be visi- 
ble, but none of the white of the eye, either above or 
below it. 

The lids are subject to various disfiguring com- 
plaints, most common of which are a redness and swell- 
ing of their margins, with more or less discharge, es- 
pecially during the night. This is called blear-eye, or 
"lippitudo," and when more severe, "psor ophthalmia." 
Sometimes it is attended with a burning and itching 



ABOUT GLYCERINE. 83 

sensation, the edges of the lid become ulcerated and 
sore, and the eyelashes fall out. Frequently it arises 
from a tendency to scrofula, and from improperly 
using, or violently rubbing the eyes. When from any 
temporary cause, this affection can be cured by touch- 
ing the margin of the lid with a little of the following 
preparation on the point of a camel-hair pencil, night 
and morning : — 

Take- 
Red oxide of mercury one part ; 
Glycerine (chemically pure) 1 one part ; 
Larcl (free of salt) three parts. 

Mix thoroughly and keep in a cool place. Besides 
using this, wash the eyelid with tepid warm water, 
several times during the day. 

If, however, blear-eye is connected with an enfeebled 
or scrofulous constitution, a thorough course of medi- 
cal treatment is necessary. 

That common annoyance a stye often causes dispro- 
portionate pain and trouble. It is a small, inflamed 
tumor on the edge of the lid. If taken early, they can 
be backened by being touched with a solid stick of 
nitrate of silver, but after a day or two, they must be 

1 Whenever glycerine is applied to any part of the body 
where there is hair, care must be taken to have it chemically 
pure, as otherwise the salts of lime, one of its most common 
impurities, will injure and finally destroy the hair bulbs, and 
cause baldness, dropping of the eyelashes, etc. 



84 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

let run their course, hastened by a light poultice of 
slippery-elm bark. Those persons who suffer from a 
constant recurrence of them, one after another, should 
seek medical advice, as they require constitutional 
treatment. 

A much more serious disfigurement is, when the mar- 
gin of the eyelid inclines inward, or, what is worse, 
turns inside out. The latter is called "ectropion," and 
presents a most unsightly spectacle. It can only be 
remedied by a surgical operation. 

Sometimes a portion of the skin of the nose projects 
over the inner angles of the eyes, imparting a coarse 
look to the face. Here, too, the knife of the surgeon is 
the only means that promises any relief. 

Half-closed eyes occasionally arise from a difficulty 
of raising the upper lids. This is an obstinate and 
troublesome nervous complaint, and is not to be es- 
caped by simple procedures. 

Many a lady is disgusted with herself after a night 
at a ball-room or some unusual watching, or at certain 
periodical seasons, to find a dark blue line beneath her 
eyes, the sure indication of excessive excitement of the 
system. Gladly would she avail herself of any simple 
means to conceal it. We shall tell her, in confidence, 
how it may be done. 

In London and Faris, where wild young clerks are 
apt to acquire a black eye occasionally in their noc- 
turnal rambles, which might cost them their positions 



A VAGARY OF FASHION. 85 

if the head of their houses were to notice it, there is 
a class of artists whose avocation it is to conceal the 
trace of such untoward accidents. For minor dis.- 
colorations such as we are now speaking of, they em- 
ploy the following method : Take a little precipitated 
French chalk in impalpable powder, rub it on the part, 
and gently blow or dust off the loose particles. Then 
apply a little of the same powder very slightly tinted 
with carmine, dusting in the same -manner. Clear the 
edges of the eyelashes with a pencil, and tone down the 
outer margin of the dusted portion, so that it insensibly 
merges into the surrounding skin. Yet such is the 
vagary of the mode, that les lionnes of the Parisian 
demi-monde actually cultivate these dark circles beneath 
the eyes, to give themselves a dissolute, effrenee ap- 
pearance. 

Puffed and swollen eyelids are very common in old 
age and with certain complaints. Stimulant applica- 
tions locally, and tonic internal treatment, will often 
help them materially. 

E}^es apparently too small sometimes owe this defect 
to a too close union of the lids at the outer angle. A 
simple and almost painless surgical operation will 
readily remove this difficulty, and it should always be 
resorted to. 

The eyelashes next demand our attention. They 
add vastly to the expression of the eye. Especially 
should women with light-colored, weak, or watery 



86 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

eyes, aim to have them long, regular, silken, and dark. 
They can do so if they wish. 

In the first place, they should see that the lid is 
healthy, free from minute scales at its margin, not red 
or everted, with no tendency to be glued to the other 
lid at rising in the morning. The eyelashes should 
then be examined one by one, and any which are split, 
or crooked, or feeble, should be trimmed with a pair 
of sharp scissors. The base of the lashes should be 
anointed nightly with a minute quantity of oil of 
cajuput on the top of a camePs-hair brush, and the 
examination and trimming repeated every month. If 
this is judiciously carried out for a few months, the 
result will be gratifying. 

Occasionally one or several of the eyelashes grow 
inward, irritating the eye and ultimately injuring the 
sight. The only cure is to have the offending hairs 
extracted by, the tweezers, and if they grow again to 
cauterize the spot with the point of a fine needle. 

The odalisques of the Orient color the eyelashes 
with a preparation called u Kohol," which is a poison- 
ous salt of antimony, likely to harm the eye, and, 
therefore, objectionable. A little Indian ink, espe- 
cially that of Japanese manufacture, dissolved in 
water and carefully applied, answers the same pur- 
pose, and is harmless. 

The brilliancy of the eye depends very much on the 
closeness, length, and hue of the lashes. When skil- 



THE BEAUTY OF THE EYE. gt 

fully disposed and slightly darkened, if need be, they 
lend a brightness and beauty altogether unexpected 
to the plainest eyes. An excellent and harmless pre- 
paration to shade them a glossy dark, yet not an unna- 
tural hue, is what is called "frankincense black." It 
is made thus :— 

Take- 
Frankincense, resin, pitch, of each Jialf an ounce ; 
Gum mastic quarter of an ounce. 

Mix, and drop on red hot charcoals. Receive the fumes 
in a large funnel, and a black powder will adhere to its 
sides. Mix this with the fresh juice of elder berries 
(or cologne water will do), and apply with a fine 
camel-hair brush. 

All these operations on the eyelids and eyelashes 
should be performed by a second person, lest the eye 
should be inadvertently injured. 

THE EYE. 

The beauty of the eye itself depends on its color, its 
brightness, and- its expression. All of these are more 
or less under our control. 

The white of the eye should be pure and pearly. It 
is apt to become yellow in diseases connected with the 
digestive organs or the liver, a bluish white in scrofu- 
lous and consumptive constitutions, and streaked with 
minute red veins in those who are given to excess in 
food or drink, or to violent fits of passion. The popular 



88 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

jnind associates the "red eye" so closely with intem- 
perance that it has become a slang term for bad 
whiskey. Now, it is evident, discolorations from all 
these causes are in part or wholly under our own com- 
mand, *and that we can escape them if we will. 

The pupil of the eye should suit in hue the hair and 
complexion. A blue eye and black hair are even more 
in discord than a dark eye and light hair. The latter 
is, indeed, esteemed by some a charm. But the color 
of the pupil cannot be changed by any process known 
to art. In elderly persons, and in those suffering from 
heart disease, it loses its natural tinge and changes to 
a dull brown. 

We shall not give any tedious directions about pre- 
serving the eyes in health. It is not necessary. All 
there is to do is to wash them morning and evening in 
cool, pure water, and dry them gently with a soft towel, 
wiping them toward the nose, for in the corner nearest 
the nose is the outlet of the various humors secreted 
by the eye. 

Then there is a word to be said about crying. The 
tears are constantly being secreted by the eye, and it 
is only when they are so abundant that they cannot 
all pass through the outlet we have just spoken of that 
they overflow on the cheeks. We are, in fact, ever 
weeping salt tears, even in our most joyous moments. 
Apart from the contortion of the features which usually 



WEEP NO MORE. 89 

accompanies crying, the excessive action of the tear 
glands soon weakens and dims the eye — 

"Grief, that's beauty's canker. 7 ' 

The celebrated Venetian, Louis Cornaro, who ruined 
his constitution by excesses when young, but, by de- 
voting himself to the care of his health, lived to be 
over a hundred years old, lays it down as essential to 
sound health not to indulge in grief. He adds, with 
evident satisfaction, that he had so happily cultivated 
himself in this respect that the death of his best friend 
hardly disturbed him! 

Cornaro was equal to a French countess, mentioned 
in one of the Memoires of the last century. A friend 
paid her a visit of condolence after the death of her 
husband, and advised her to give free vent to her tears. 

"What!" exclaimed the lady, . "would you have 
me double my loss ? That would be to lose my beauty 
as well as my husband!" 

A weak eye is very rarely a pretty one, so that it 
behooves every one to preserve the sight for a twofold 
reason. Reading or sewing by a light too bright or 
too dim, at twilight, or in a darkened room is very in- 
jurious. So is the commQn habit of reading when 
lying down. Always sit up to read. 

One of the most curious freaks of fashion is that 
which introduced eyeglasses as a part of the outfit of 
fops and belles. An optician in one of our large cities 
informs us that he manufactures and sells numbers of 



90 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

eye-glasses with plane glass ! They are carried merely 
as something " nobby," excellent wherewith to "ogle a 
party." 

The fashion is not 'new. There is a very amusing 
old book called " The Ladies' Travels in Spain," writ- 
ten by an English lady of noble birth, who resided at 
the Court of Madrid about 1610. She gives many 
queer particulars of social customs there, and among 
others, that it was the fashion for all stylish young 
ladies to wear on their noses enormous spectacles, 
sometimes two and three inches in diameter. It was 
supposed to give them a lofty and earnest appearance, 
such as suits the ideal of the haughty Spaniard. In 
time our eyeglasses will appear quite as absurd as 
these huge spectacles do now. 

When the sight is weak, but with no special disease 
present, it may be very much improved by one of the 
following methods : Take a handful of fresh red-pep- 
pers, or ginger-root, and pour over them a half pint of 
pure alcohol. Wipe twice daily the brow above the 
eye and the temple with a little of this on a soft 
sponge, and let it dry. Or take a heaping tablespoon- 
ful of clean rock salt, and let it dissolve in a quart of 
rain water. Immerse the face in this every morning, 
and open the eyes while under the water so that the 
salt can act directly on the organ. This latter is most 
excellent also in cases of redness or slight inflammation 
of the eyes. 



CROSS-EYES. 91 

When there is a tendency to become near-sighted, it 
can be prevented by closing the eyes and passing the 
fingers with a gentle equable pressure from the corner 
next the nose outward. This should be repeated a 
number of times every day, and the eye should always 
be wiped in the same direction. The cornea is thus 
flattened, and the angle of vision lengthened. 

The reverse of this procedure will be found very effi- 
cacious when the sight begins to fail from years or 
over-work. Then the pressure should be made from 
the outer angles inward. By doing this regularly and 
skilfully, elderly people can remain gloriously inde- 
pendent of spectacles to any age they are likely to 
reach. 

There are a vast number of diseases of the eye, to 
most of which we shall make no reference whatever. 
It should be a rule with every one to have first-class 
medical advice whenever any trouble, no matter how 
insignificant, arises in this important and delicate or- 
gan. Sometimes the delay of a few hours renders the 
case hopeless. 

Some peculiarly disfiguring disorders, as coming 
within our special department, must be mentioned. 
One is " cross-eyes, " or " squinting,' ' the strabismus 
of medical men. Every one knows what this is, and 
every one can imagine how painful it is to a person 
thus to be singled out as an object of curiosity, and 
often of ridicule. Moreover, the sight is certain to be 



92 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

impaired sooner or later. Whether both or one eye is 
affected, the only cure is to have an operation per- 
formed, which can be done safely, expeditiously, and 
with almost certain success. 

Another is the loss of the eye from whatever cause. 
In these cases vision of course can never be restored, 
but the deformity can be admirably concealed by the 
adjustment of an artificial eye, made of glass, colored 
to resemble accurately the remaining eye. There are 
many little precautions about the use of such an 
instrument, which the reader can learn from her physi- 
cian, but which we trust she will never have need to 
know. 

Much more to the purpose is it for us to divulge a 
few secrets about the brightness and the expression 
of the eyes. We could disclose some cunning devices 
in vogue among the fashionable belles of the Old 
World to give expression to these organs. But these 
are naughty and dangerous devices, not proper for the 
women of America to practise. For instance, these 
reckless belles place a single drop of that deadly poison, 
prussic acid (dilute, acid, hydrocyan. dil. XJ. S. P.), in 
the bottom of a wineglass, and hold the glass against 
the eye for two or three seconds. Or, still more 
rashly, they take ever so small a quantity, a piece not 
larger than a grain of rice, of an ointment containing 
that mortal drug atropia, and this they rub on 'the 
brow. The first of these proceedings gives clearness 



TO BRIGHTEN THE EYES. 93 

and brilliancy, the second expands the pupil and im- 
parts a fascinating fulness and mellowness to the eye. 

Or, again, they take — 

But no ! our conscience checks us, and we are not 
going to reveal any more such injurious arts. For 
injurious they are, as well as dangerous, resulting 
certainly, if used too often, in impairment of the 
vision. Let them be left, therefore, to those who 
make a living by their charms, to actresses, and the 
belles of the boulevards. 

We have known some ladies before going to a ball 
swallow a teaspoonful of ether -(aether sulphuricus, 
XJ. S. P.). This is a powerful nervous stimulant, and 
causes the eye to glitter and sparkle, but it, too, is not 
to be recommended. 

Certain slightly pungent and volatile perfumes, such 
as the oil of thyme and the oil of bitter almonds 
(which contains prussic acid), are occasionally worn on 
the handkerchief in order to produce a similar effect. 
But a healthy eye needs no such aids, and a diseased 
one is better without them. 

A wiser course to improve the expression is by 
avoiding unseemly habits, such as winking, opening 
widely the lids, and so forth, and by studying, before a 
mirror if need be, the management of the ocular mus- 
cles. In society, avoid either staring fixedly at a per- 
son, looking around constantly, or shunning to meet 
another's gaze. Allow the eye to lighten up with sym- 



94 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

pathy, interest, or intelligence, but do not let it roll, 
or vibrate, or turn upward to show the white below 
the pupil. It will be pleasing to note how soon mode- 
rate daily practice, and a rigid self-control over this 
organ, will improve and beautify the whole face. 



THE EAR AND THE SENSE OP HEARING. 

THE FORM AND CARE OF THE EAR. 

TN a horse, an ass, or a dog, we naturaUy look to the 
-*- ear as the most expressive feature of the animal. 
It is less significant in man, but still has more influ- 
ence on the appearance than we usually attribute to 
it. While it should be distinctly visible from in front, 
it should not project from the head, and in its form it 
should present agreeable curves, and not be angular or 
pointed. 

Thorough cleanliness is the most important rule 
regarding it. Too often in hasty toilettes this is over- 
looked. The wax should be removed twice a week 
with a cure-oreille, or ear pick, of ivory, steel, or tor- 
toise shell, but care should be had not to employ the 
least violence. If the wax is hardened, warm water 
containing a few drops of sulphuric ether should be 
injected with an ear syringe at night. 

A growth of bristly hairs in the ears is very disfigur- 

(95) 



96 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

ing. They should be removed in the mode to be 
described in the chapter on hair. By this means they 
are eradicated and without pain. 

When, as occasionally happens, a spider or other 
insect enters the ear, there is no occasion for alarm, 
and no efforts whatever should be made to extract it. 
The treatment is to fill the ear at once with sweet 
oil, which is at hand in every house. This destroys 
the intruder, and the extraction must be left to the 
physician, as there is great danger to the delicate 
internal organs of hearing from rough handling. 

Some persons have a habit of wearing cotton in their 
ears to protect them against earache. This is objec- 
tionable for many reasons. It dulls the hearing, alters 
the secretion of wax, changes the expression of the 
organ, and gives a sickly look. 

When the ear obstinately insists on standing out 
from the head in grown persons, it is next to impos- 
sible to prevent it. In children, it is much easier, and 
therefore every mother should see to it that the chil- 
dren's caps, their bonnet strings, and the folds of # the 
hair, do not impress this unsightly direction on the 
cartilage. Moreover, it becomes in this respect the 
duty of parents to forbid school teachers from pulling, 
boxing, or twisting the ears of their scholars, as is a 
custom in many schools. Such violence often imprints 
a permanent unseemly shape, which is the source of 
much secret mental pain in after years. 



MISSHAPEN EARS. 97 

The color of the ear should be as light as that of the 
surrounding flesh, or verge slightly on the pink. But 
it is not uncommon to see ears with a constant red- 
ness, very inconsistent with the demands of cosmetic 
art. Sometimes this arises from injuries, such as fre- 
quent pinching or pulling, more frequently it is the 
unpleasant memento of some sleigh ride or other ex- 
posure to the cold. The tips of the ear are readily 
frost-bitten, and then acquire this heightened, unhealthy 
hue. It may be concealed by dusting with French 
chalk, but it is better to remedy it by washing the 
parts evening and morning with a lotion made by 
dissolving a teaspoonful of alum and a teaspoonful of 
borax in half a pint of rose-water, and two tablespoon- 
fuls of tincture of benzoin. 

Injuries not unfrequently mar the symmetry of the 
ear, and there are various malformations to which it 
is subject. Most of these can be partly or quite 
restored by the resources of cosmetic surgery, and no 
one should hesitate to seek such assistance. It is not 
worth while to detail at length what these various 
malformations are, as they are only too readily recog- 
nized. Even when the ear is in part or altogether 
absent, the case is not desperate. An " artificial ear" 
can be made of vulcanized rubber, or other material, 
tinted the color of the flesh, and attached to the side 
of the head with such deftness that its character will 
escape every ordinary eye. In all cases where there 



98 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

is any defect in the form, color, or position of the ear, 
it behooves a person to study with especial care the 
arrangement of the hair best suited to conceal that 
misfortune. 

PIERCING THE EAR, AND EARRINGS. 

In England the custom of wearing earrings or pen- 
dants has fallen considerably into disuse in the best 
circles during the last ten years, but with us the large 
majority of young ladies adhere to it. The opera- 
tion of piercing the ears which they undergo is too 
often left to the jeweller or some friend to perform. 
The result is that it is nothing very uncommon to 
find it productive of troublesome consequences. A 
learned professor of surgery states, in a recent work, 
that he has seen five cases where large and trouble- 
some tumors in the lobe of the ear were caused in 
this way, and we could easily quote more than one 
instance recorded in medical literature where even 
death resulted. 

It is wiser, therefore, to have it performed by a 
medical man, who will take into account the constitu- 
tion of the girl, the state of her health, and the season 
of the year, so as to avoid every possible danger. He 
will also complete it almost without pain by means of 
some apparatus for suspending sensation in the part. 

The proper procedure is to mark the exact spot 
with a pen, choosing it near the middle of the lobe. 



A WARNING ABOUT EAR-RINGS. 99 

Having then subjected the part for a few seconds to 
the spray of ether, which renders it insensible, a cork 
is placed behind to form a firm support, and the aper- 
ture made by a three-cornered steel punch. A silver 
or gold wire is then inserted and left for two or three 
days, when it is carefully oiled and moved. In a week 
the canal is usually healed. 

No base metal should ever be worn in the ears, and 
no gold less than eighteen carats fine, as the sub- 
stances used in the alloy of lower grades are liable to 
irritate and inflame the skin. Heavy rings should not 
be worn by girls, as the lobes are quite elastic, and 
may stretch out of all proportion. When from violence 
the lobe of the ear is torn, or when the aperture for 
the ring becomes inordinately large, a simple and 
quickly-performed operation will restore the member 
to its natural shape. The edges are pared, and by 
being held in contact soon grow together. 



THE NOSE, AND SENSE OE SMELL. 



PROPER FORM AND CARE OF THE NOSE. 

rPHE discussion whether a Grecian or straight, or a 
-■- Roman or aquiline nose, or any other particular 
variety, is the most becoming, is idle, and does not 
interest us. The important point is that the organ be 
symmetrical, and in harmony with the other features. 

The national names we have just mentioned show 
how strongly this member characterizes tribes and 
families of our race. We all know the thick, promi- 
nent, curved, Jewish nose, and do not admire it very 
much. No doubt, however, Solomon did, and thought 
that the more of it the better, for we find him, in his 
" Song of Songs," enumerating in the catalogue of the 
beauties of his love, that " thy nose is as the tower of 
Lebanon, which looketh toward Damascus," which, 
only in an extremely figurative sense indeed, would 
be accepted as a compliment by one of our American 
fair ones. 
(100) 



THE PERILS OF A LONG NOSE. 101 

So far have we departed from this ancient ideal, that 
an unusually prominent nose is often a source of 
great mortification. It may even have more serious 
results. The wild and witty French author, Cyrano 
de Bergerac, was distinguished by a nose which almost 
deserved to be called a proboscis. Like most others 
similarly gifted, he was extremely sensitive on the 
point, and as he was as daring as a lion and an expert 
swordsman, it was not prudent to twit him about it. 
By the time he was thirty-five he had challenged for 
this cause six antagonists, and left every one of them 
dead on the field. 

The artistic rule based on the Greek sculptures is to 
have the line of the nose straight or very nearly so, its 
length one-third of that of the face, and its prominence 
seen in profile one-third of its length. The septum, or 
division between the nostrils, must be exactly in the 
middle line of the face ; the openings of the nostrils 
precisely similar, and horizontal in the profile. A thin 
and pointed, or a gross and flabby nose, is never hand- 
some. 

The pure Roman nose is admirably suited to a 
"stage face," and usually accompanies an energetic, 
clear-headed, practical, but somewhat hard and selfish 
character. The Greek type is more consonant with 
delicate sensibilities, taste, and refinement,, but also 
uncertainty of purpose and self-indulgence. Such, also, 



102 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

were the respective traits of the nations whose names 
they bear. 

The care of the nose commences with cleanliness. 
While this is true, frequent wiping, sniffing, blowing, 
or picking should be avoided, and children especially 
should be hindered from so doing, as from such habits 
the organ readily assumes an unsightly shape. If 
there is much irritation of the nostrils, it is a sure sign 
of some internal disorder, and the physician's opinion 
should be taken. So, too, the discharge is never ex- 
cessive in perfect health, and, when it becomes so, it 
is either owing to worms, dyspepsia, chronic catarrh, 
or some more serious disorder. Those who are subject 
to frequent "colds in the head" will infallibly destroy 
the contour of this prominent feature, and they should 
remove the tendency at once. This can always be 
done either by cold ablutions without and within the 
nostrils, correction of dyspeptic troubles (gastric 
catarrh), medicated inhalations, the nasal douche, or, 
lastly, change of climate. 

Still more essential is it that the discharge from the 
nostril should be odorless. . It must be called a most 
serious misfortune when this is not the case. The suf- 
ferer is offensive to herself, and to every one who ap- 
proaches her. Her condition demands our most active 
and sympathizing attention. Often some local irrita- 
tion produces it, often some constitutional change is 
taking place, and often that obstinate disease "ozsena," 



SNUFFING. 103 

one of the most repulsive we have to deal with, has to 
be encountered. Within a few months we have been 
consulted in several cases of the latter complaint in 
young ladies, whose lives it rendered miserable. For- 
tunately, if taken early enough in the disease to apply 
those remedies which medical art provides, it is cura- 
ble; but it is of the utmost importance to allow no 
delay in obtaining proper aid. 

The dirty habit of snuff-taking leads to various dis- 
orders and deformities of the nose, but as we do not 
ever remember to have seen an American lady cherish- 
ing this one of the many little foxes that spoil the 
vine of beauty, we presume it is unnecessary to detail 
its ugly assaults. 

"Foreign bodies," as surgeons call them, meaning 
anything that has no business there, are frequently put 
up the nose by children, or thoughtless persons. They 
must be extracted very gently, as violence may lacerate 
the skin or injure the bone, causing lasting disfigure- 
ment. 

Nature, who is ever careful to protect her delicate 
pieces of workmanship, plants for this purpose a num- 
ber of soft, light-colored hairs just inside the entrance 
of the nostril, to catch the dust and little irritating par- 
ticles. Sometimes these grow to an unnecessary 
length, and present a very unprepossessing appearance. 
In such case the longest and most bristl}^ should be 
removed, care being taken not to injure in the least the 



104 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

adjacent bone, which misfortune has been known to oc- 
cur with very unpleasant results. The ether-spray will 
.render the operation altogether painless, though it is 
quite bearable without it. 

DEFECTS IN THE FORM AND COLOR OF THE NOSE. 

A person with an ugly nose has much to bear. 
They must either suffer in silence, or, like Cyrano de 
Bergerac, wliose story we have told, fight many a 
battle in its defence. We modestly come as consolers 
to all such. Their cases are not desperate, at any rate 
not always so. 

Some of* them have noses leaning more to one side 
than the other, not placed in the median line of the 
face. This, to a slight degree, is very common and 
often hardly noticed, except as it mars the "tout 
ensemble" of the fac^ In others, again, it is intolera- 
ble. Mr. Heather Bigg, of London, who has quite a 
reputation for treating disfigurements, tells of a young 
barrister whose nose was so much on one side of his 
face that it threatened to spoil his prospects at the 
bar. He applied for relief to Mr. Bigg, who contrived 
an instrument which forced it by a spring to its proper 
place. This was worn constantly at night, and occa- 
sionally during the day. The success was complete. 
Similar mechanical appliances should be worn by every 
one who would rid themselves of this disagreeable 
obliquity. They must be made and adjusted very 



THE DEVICE OF DR. CID. 105 

carefully to suit each separate case. In young per- 
sons they are always successful, but with advancing 
age the results grow less satisfactory. 

A common cause of this crookedness is that persons 
wipe or blow the nose always with one hand, and pull 
it frequently, therefore, in one direction. By revers- 
ing the direction the trouble is lessened. 

Dr. Cid, an inventive surgeon of Paris, noticed that 
elderly people, who for a long time have worn eye- 
glasses supported on the nose by a spring, are apt 
to have this organ long and thin. This he attributes 
to the compression which the spring exerts on the 
arteries by which the nose is nourished. The idea 
occurred to him that the hint could be made useful. 
Not long afterwards a young lady of fifteen years 
consulted him, to see if he could restore to mode- 
rate dimensions her nose, which was large, fleshy, and 
unsightly. The trait, he found, was hereditary in her 
family, as her mother and sister were similarly afflicted. 
This was discouraging, as hereditary peculiarities are 
particularly obstinate, but the doctor determined to 
try his method. He took exact measurements, and 
had constructed for her a "lunette pince-nez," a spring 
and pad for compressing the artery, which she wore at 
night, and whenever she conveniently could in the day- 
time. In three weeks a consolatory diminution was 
evident, and in three months the young lady was quite 
satisfied with the improvement in her features. Pa- 



106 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

tience on the one part, and skill on the other, had won 
the battle. This was more than twenty years ago, 
and since then the surgeons who have given attention 
to the subject have had many similar successes. 

Speaking of eye-glasses, we may remark that when 
long used they have another unsightly effect. At the 
points where they press on the sides of* the nose not 
unfrequently the skin thickens, and forms a callus or 
warty excrescence. This should be avoided by altering 
the spot where they are worn, or by having them 
padded. 

A singular and repulsive deformity is occasionally 
produced by the growth of small pendent tumors, 
called polypi, inside the nostrils. They are not visible 
externally, but can be seen within on close examination. 
They interfere with the voice, rendering it hoarse and 
nasal ; the sufferer cannot breathe freely through the 
nostrils, and when large they change the face in a man- 
ner at once sad and ludicrous, giving it an expression 
like that of a frog. These tumors used formerly to be 
seized and torn out by means of a forceps, a painful, 
bloody, and risky operation. Lately, however, an ad- 
mirable apparatus has been invented, by which they 
are surrounded with a wire, and removed instantly and 
painlessly by a charge of galvano-electricity along the 
wire. 

Blows, falls, and similar injuries sometimes mar the 
contour of the nose in a shocking manner. They 



A TRIUMPH OF SURGERY. 107 

should in all cases be attended to with promptness and 
skill. Even if neglected, much can be done by an in- 
genious surgeon in restoration and improvement. A 
nose that is too flat can be raised, one with unequal 
apertures can be modified, one too thin can be expand- 
ed. Cosmetic surgery is rich in devices here, all of 
which are very available in children and young per- 
sons, less so when years have hardened and stiffened 
the cartilages and bones. 

Even when there is no nose at all, cosmetic surgery 
does not quit the field. Quite the contrary. Here is 
one of its most brilliant victories. For, what think 
you ? it is ready to furnish a nose, not of silver or 
gutta-percha, though it can do this too, but one u out 
of whole cloth," a good, living, fleshly nose. It will 
transplant you one from the arm, or the forehead, Ro- 
manic or Grecian, a volonte ; it will graft it adroitly 
into the middle of the face, with two regular nostrils, 
and a handsome bridge ; and it will almost challenge 
nature herself to improve on the model. 

The surgeon, in this triumphant operation, takes ad- 
vantage of a strange property of parts of our body to 
continue growing when they are transplanted. To 
give an example: At German universities there is a 
great passion for duels. It is an exciting pastime, and 
it is not very dangerous. The opponents are perfectly 
protected everywhere but in the face, and the weapons 
they use are swords very sharp at the points. They 



108 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

never thrust but swing them, so that the worst wound 
is usually a clean and shallow cut. Once we knew 01 
a valorous student who had the end of his nose cleanly 
taken off by a sweep of his opponent's weapon. The 
fragment was at once picked up, dusted, and fastened 
where it belonged with a piece of sticking plaster. In 
a week's time you would hardly have guessed that it 
had ever been off. 

But a French surgeon tells a more wonderful expe- 
rience. He transplanted the tail of one rat to the mid- 
dle of the back of another. The tail continued to 
grow, and was as healthy as ever ! Truly, it must have 
had a strong dose of the vital principle. 

All this is very significant and pertinent to our 
theme ; for it shows us how sanguine we may be in 
hoping to replace members which have been lopped off 
or injured. 

What we have to say about red noses, and so forth, 
we shall defer for the chapter on the skin and com- 
plexion, where it properly belongs. 

THE SENSE OF SMELL, AND PERFUMERY. 

There is so much to be said about the sense of 
smell and odors, bad and good, that it is difficult to 
know where to begin — still more difficult to know 
where to stop. We have a friend who is an enthusiast 
on the topic. Sometimes he will button-hole us, and 



A WONDROUS SENSE. 109 

ignoring all our polite little attempts at escape, treat 
us to an extempore lecture on his hobby. 

" The sense of smell," he begins, " is beyond all com- 
parison the most delicate, ethereal, and noble of all 
the senses. You can put a grain of pure musk in a 
room for years, have your windows open, occupy it 
daily, but every person who enters will at once detect 
the perfume, and leave the apartment carrying with 
him some slight particle of musk. At the end of ten 
years, weigh your musk, and you will find the full grain, 
not diminished by the hundredth fraction of a milli- 
gramme. Can you see, feel, hear, taste these infinitely 
little molecules? No! you can only smell them. 
Mark the lower animals. Does the dog trust to eye 
or ear to recognize his master? No! to his scent 
alone. 

"You doctors give your medicines by the stomach 
or the skin. If I were a doctor and had a diploma, I 
should found a new school. I would give my medi- 
cines by the nose. You smile. But I can prove to 
you that organic matter has ten-thousand-fold more 
influence when thus administered, than in any other 
way. I have a brother, a sturdy, sun -browned farmer, 
to whom the odor of his new-mown hay, to you so 
delicious, is a poison. It throws him into fits of sten- 
torian sneezings, he chokes and gasps as if he would 
strangle. The doctors call it 'hay-asthma,' or 'rose 
cold,' and pour annually down his throat quarts of 
10 



HO PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

drugs, without a shadow of benefit. Of course not. 
Why don't they apply the remedies to the part 
affected ? If he had a sore toe they would not band- 
age his finger. They should cure him by odors. 

"I have a cousin, no nervous invalid but a hardy 
sailor, who hasn't seen thirty summers, but has 
ploughed every ocean and trodden every continent on 
this globe. Bring him into a room where there is a 
watermelon, and he is at once seized with such parox- 
ysms of sneezing and coughing that he can hardly 
speak a word. You don't approve of infinitesimals. 
Do those who believe in them ever divide medicines 
more minutely, think you, than these odors ?" 

"Hold!" exclaimed we, goaded by this last thrust 
from our design to let him talk himself out as quickly 
as possible, "hold, you don't understand the subject. 
We will explain it in two words. The Schneiderian 
membrane when in a condition of hyperesthesia — " 

"Enough," replies our incorrigible friend, "I grant 
it. At any rate I would rather die in ignorance, than 
hear an explanation which begins in that manner. 
Pardon the hit. I thought you looked bored, and I 
wanted to stir you up to listen to my theory of per- 
fumery as a fine art. The ear has music ; the eye its 
complementary and contrasted colors; # so there is a 
music to the sense of smell, a sweet accord of odors, as 
fixed, as much under law, as the sonatas of Beethoven. 
In some riper civilization we shall have operas of 



THE MUSIC OF ODORS. HI 

fragrant scents, and the enamored lover shall no longer 
bring on his head the maledictions of the neighbors for 
making night hideous with his guitar and hoarse voice, 
but shall waft to his lady-love a voiceless serenade of 
distilled essences from the bowers of love." 

"My dear sir," we broke in, "this is really too ab- 
surd. Besides, pardon us for looking at our watch, 
but we have a case of leg at the hospital " 

"Absurd," said he in some heat, entirely disregard- 
ing our last clause — " Look here ! do you see this work 
by a learned German professor of Leipzig ? What can 
you say to that ?" 

And drawing a small volume from his pocket, he 
showed us what at first we supposed was a series of 
musical notes, but in fact was the harmonic scale of 
perfumes, arranged in different keys and accords, with 
a series of comments by the author, explaining the 
necessity of mingling essential oils according to these 
laws in order to form new perfumes, and to affect 
pleasantly the olfactory sense. We looked at the 
title-page and saw: "KoUIetto-c^emie, Iron g r - peh*ricl<j 
fTtr^el, professor a. i>. fflnifrersttat p ITri^xg, 1866/' 

In truth our friend has some foundation for his 
speculations. The proper use of perfumes, quite as 
much as their manufacture, demands an acquaintance 
with their accords. 

In the first place, his hint of the unpleasant effects 
of certain odors on some people should be borne in 



112 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

mind. The animal perfumes, musk, civet, and amber- 
gris, as well as camphor, new-mown hay, and pat- 
choulis, are extremely disagreeable to many. We 
know a lady who cannot smell musk without it giving 
her a headache. Moreover, bergamot, patchoulis, and 
musk are in our large American cities especially 
popular among the lower and the immoral classes of 
women, which is reason enough why they should be 
avoided by a lady. No powerful or pungent scents 
should be used, as they lead to a suspicion that they 
are employed to conceal some bad smell natural to 
the person. Rare old Ben Jonson, in his drama of 
" The Silent Woman," has one of*his characters say: — 

" Still to be powd'red, still perfumed, 
Lady, it is to be presumed, 
Though airt's hid causes are not found, 
All is not sweet, all is not sound." 

It is well at times to appear without any artificial 
odor whatever, with only the subtle, fresh, and rich 
aroma of perfect health and cleanliness, that indescri- 
bable odeur dejolie femme, as Alexandre Dumas, fils, 
calls it in one of his novels. There is another reason 
for the same occasional deprivation. The nerves of 
smell soon lose their fine sensibility, or else acquire an 
unhealthy irritability, if long subjected to. the same 
stimulus. The wine-bibber is never a connoisseur in 
vintages, the gourmand is never a gourmet, and the 



THE ACCORDS OF ODORS. 113 

person forever smelling strong perfumes rarely can use 
them judiciously. 

Therefore, one should avoid wearing constantly a 
favorite perfume. Change it rather for one of the same 
accord. For example, sandal-wood, which in an im- 
palpable powder is now sold at our Japanese stores, 
accords well with rose-geranium, acacia blossoms, 
orange flowers, or camphor ; musk suits with rose, 
tuberose, tonka bean, or jonquille ; and so forth. Such 
a discrimination will be as readily made by a naturally 
keen or well-educated nose, as a tune will be caught by 
a cultivated ear ; and a discord will be as promptly 
detected by the one sense as by the other. 

But the subject is so extensive, and furthermore as 
it does not actually lie within our present subject, we 
must leave it. Should our friends wish for a full dis- 
cussion of the topic, we must some time start our 
enthusiastic acquaintance on his favorite branch, and 
retail for their benefit what he tells us. Or we shall 
urge him to address himself directly to them, and thus 
make a double escape for ourselves. 

So far as relates to the correction of unpleasant 

odors about the person, we shall not omit to give full 

directions about those when we come to speak of the 

skin, breath, etc. 

10* 



THE MOUTH, LIPS, TEETH, AND BREATH. 

THE MOUTH AND LIPS. 

rPHE home of smiles and merry laughter, the sptrfc 
J- where love seals its vows, and friendship offers its 
warmest pledges, whence winged words bring to us, 
like carrier pigeons, the thoughts of other souls, the 
mouth next comes before us for study. Its parts and 
outlines must be in keeping with each other and with 
the remaining members of the face. Here, more dis- 
tinctly than in an}^ other feature, does a debased ancestry 
leave a vicious imprint, and a countenance please or 
displease us. More than one woman lives in history 
by her mouth. 

There, for example, is Margaret Maultasche, Margaret 
the Pouch mouth, " rugged dragoon major of a woman, " 
as Carlyle calls her, conspicuous enough in her day 
and generation, now live hundred years agone, not 
only by her thick lips and big mouth, but by her huge 
possessions in Austria, and the knack she had for 
(114) 



MARGARET MAULTASCIIE. 115 

keeping them in those troublesome times. She is sure 
to be remembered " when your Pompadour, Duchess 
of Cleveland, of Kendal, and other high-rouged, un- 
fortunate females, whom it is not proper to speak of 
without necessity, shall have sunk beneath the Histori- 
cal." Let us hope so, for with all her ruggedness she 
was true wife and of sterling metal, and worth more 
than the whole crowd of the others. 

The mouth should be of moderate size, the corners 
symmetrical, when closed the line perfectly horizontal, 
the lips well defined and rosy red, the lower slightly 
more prominent than the upper, both covering readily 
the teeth but not redundant. The crowning charm of 
a pretty mouth are wreathed smiles. 

" Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, 
And love to live in dimple sleek ;" 

or, lest we put the mark discouragingly high, such as 
may wreathe almost any face, if the owner will take 
care to cultivate it. How many there are whom mirth 
robs of half their good looks ! It often demands 
practice before the mirror in order to correct one's self 
of ungracious tics, which mar the pleasure we would 
otherwise give by a smile. The lips should part mod- 
erately, disclosing the teeth, but not the gums, and not 
contorting the rest of the visage, while yet the whole 
face sympathizes in the mirthfulness. 

It is anything but pleasing to see a grin without 
gladness. The ancients called such a grimace the 



116 PERSONAL BEA UTY. 

Sardonic laugh, because it was supposed to be produced 
by eating the poisonous herb sardonica. Some per- 
sons rather affect it. Dickens, in one of his novels, 
speaks of a character whose nearest approach to gayety 
was to have his moustache move up and his nose come 
down, and when the blase style is in vogue, a vacant 
grin is the nearest approach to a smile permissible. 

For cosmetic reasons, immoderate laughter is objec- 
tionable. It keeps the muscles on the stretch, destroys 
the contour of the features, and produces wrinkles. It 
is better to cultivate a " classic repose." 

Still more decidedly should the habit of " making 
mouths" be condemned, whether it occur in conversing 
in private, or to express emotions. It never adds to 
the emphasis of the discourse, never improves the 
looks, and leads to actual malformations. 

Children sometimes learn to suck and bite their lips. 
This distorts these organs, and unless they are per- 
suaded to give it up betimes a permanent deformity 
will arise. 

When the lips have once assumed a given form, it is 
difficult to change them. Those that are too thin can 
occasionally be increased by adopting the plan of suck- 
ing them. This forces a large quantity of blood to the 
part, and consequently a greater amount of nutriment. 
When too large, compresses can sometimes, but not 
always, be used to effect. We have employed silver 
plates connected by a wire spring, or a mould of stiff 



ALBERT THE ONE-EYED. Hf 

leather. Either may be worn at night, or in the house 
during the day. 

Such a malformation is often peculiar *to some races 
and families. Negroes notoriously have their thick, 
coarse lips as a trait of race. The Hapsburgs, the 
royal house of Austria, are distinguished by a hanging 
nether lip. They have always been an ill-favored 
family, and though they have managed to marry rich 
heiresses, and absorb quantities of land, their homeli- 
ness has been in their way. Albert I, son of Rudolf 
of Hapsburg, founder of the line, an ugly, loose-lipped 
man, blind of an eye, was rejected as Emperor by Pope 
Boniface on account of his looks. "What!" said the 
Pope, "that one-eyed, clownish, thick-lipped fellow? he 
is not fit to be Emperor." But Albert killed with his 
own hand his rival for the imperial purple, and did be- 
come Emperor in spite of his big lips, the Pope, and 
the whole set of them. 

Girls who have a scrofulous tendency in their consti- 
tutions are liable to an excessive growth of their upper 
lip. It becomes hard, puffed out, and twice as thick 
as natural. The veins are large, but there is little or 
no pain. This is an obstinate complaint, but it can be 
cured if a skilful surgeon is consulted in time. 

We have seen not a few unfortunate people who, 
when they smile or laugh, turn the upper lip almost 
inside out, and show a fold or crease of the red, mucous 
membrane which lines it. This is a most disagreeable 



118 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

spectacle, fatal to comeliness. It can, and it should 
be, cured. An operation is necessary, but only a slight 
and not very painful one, or it can be rendered entirely 
painless by ether. 

If tumors and local swellings appear on the lips, 
they should be promptly submitted to a medical ad- 
viser, as they can only be successfully treated by the 
more recondite arts of medicine. 

A deformity of birth only too common is that fa- 
miliarly known as " hare-lip, " so called because the up- 
per lip is cleft or divided by a fissure, like that of hares 
or rabbits. This not only gives a hideous expression 
to the features, but frequently interferes with the pro- 
nunciation of words. It can be very neatly remedied 
by a surgeon, and no one should hesitate to undergo 
the necessary operation. In children it is best to have 
it remedied either just before or after they have their 
first teeth; that is, either when they are five or six 
months, or between two and three years of age. 

Coral lips, cherry lips, rosy lips, such as those of 
beauteous Queen Guinevere: — 

" A man had given all other bliss, 
And all his worldly worth for this, 
To waste his whole heart in one kiss 
Upon her perfect lips," 

have inspired many a poet with immortal songs. But 
there is many a fair one whose lips are neither coralline 
nor roseate, but pale and faded, or puffed and purple. 



PALE LIPS. 119 

The latter depends often on serious disease. We see 
it in consumption, and in certain disorders of the 
heart. It should be regarded with anxiety, and means 
adopted to restore the general health. 

Pale lips betoken general feebleness of circulation. 
They are very common in young girls inclined to chlo- 
rosis or green-sickness. Generally, a judicious course 
of tonics with bathing and exercise will remedy them. 
Some girls bite and suck their lips in order to make 
them red. It is a foolish habit, which may injure their 
shape. No coloring matter should be put on the lips, 
as it may be too readily swallowed. But if persons 
will employ something, then the least injurious is the 
rouge en feuilles, of Monin of Paris. A soft, moist, 
woollen cloth is pressed on the paper, and then passed 
gently over the lips. This gives them a rosy tint, 
which is tolerably durable and very natural. What 
cautions are necessary in using rouge, and which are 
the best preparations, we shall discuss in full when we 
treat of the skin. 

Dryness, brownness, and cracking of the lips, when 
obstinate, usually depend on some disorder of the 
stomach or internal organs. We were recently con- 
sulted on this account, by a lady who had tried in 
vain sundry " lip-salves," which her druggist had in 
his shop. On inquiry, we found she was suffering 
from one of those numerous complaints peculiar to 
her sex. We treated her for this, and when it was 



120 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

remedied, the trouble with the lips passed away under 
the use of simple glycerine. So important is it, in 
even the most trifling blemishes of the face, to investi- 
gate the workings of the whole system ! 

Nearly all the lip-salves sold under whatever high- 
sounding names and in whatever elegance of wrap- 
pings, are of spermaceti ointment, colored, perfumed, 
sweetened, and occasionally with the addition of a 
small quantity of alum or borax, and of glycerine. The 
last-mentioned substance in the form of " glycerine 
cream, " that is, well beaten with lard, or with castor 
oil, and scented, is an excellent application, pro- 
vided the glycerine is chemically pure, which, we 
regret to say, is rarely the case. Persons prone to 
irritations of the lips should provide themselves a 
supply of some such salve from a first-class druggist, 
and use a little every night and morning during the 
winter. Bathing the lips, before applying it, in water 
in which some alum or borax has been . dissolved (a 
teaspoon even full to a tumbler of water) will be found 
of great service. 

An unsightly spot occasionally forms at the corners 
of the mouth, moist and reddish, with a tendency to 
crust over and be tender. This arises usually from 
acidity of the saliva, and is connected with indiges- 
tion and " heart-burn.'' It can be temporarily helped, 
and sometimes cured, by rinsing the mouth several 
times a day with a solution of bicarbonate of soda, 



FEVER-BLISTERS. 121 

(teaspoonful to a pint of water), and anointing the 
spot with this preparation : — 

Oxide of zinc 30 grains; 

Spermaceti ointment half an ounce ; 

Otto of roses a drop. 

When this does not give satisfaction after a week's 
trial, a physician should be consulted, in order that 
the digestive functions be looked after. 

" Fever-blisters' 7 is the popular name given to an 
eruption on the lips, very troublesome to some persons, 
arising from a cold, a slight feverish attack, or an 
irregular or excessive meal. It commences as a hard, 
hot, painful lump on the lip, and soon changes into a 
vesicle or blister. In a week or ten days it disappears, 
leaving for a while a red spot But this is too long a 
time to remain disfigured, if there is any help for it. 
There is help in various ways. - In the first place, the 
sore spot should never be rubbed or scratched. At 
the very outset, it should be cautiously touched with 
this preparation every few hours : — 
Carbolic acid ten drops ; 
Glycerine a teaspoonful ; 

Otto of roses two drops. 

If this does not check it, the little blisters should be 
moistened with a solution of one grain of permanga- 
nate of potash in a tablespoonful of rose-water, and 
not wiped, but dusted with fine starch, or French chalk 

(which is better). This shortens the duration of the 
11 



122 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

complaint, and prevents the red mark from remaining 
so long as it otherwise would. 

Sores of any kind about the lips are almost as disa- 
greeable to one's companions as to one's self. The per- 
fumed oxide of zinc ointment mentioned above will be 
found of real value in most of them. The lower lip is 
a favorite seat of one of the varieties of cancer, and 
then must either be treated by subcutaneous injections, 
with which we have witnessed at least one most 
admirable cure ; or else the lip has to be removed by 
the knife. The former method should always be tried 
first, as in case of success the face is much less dis- 
figured. 

While upon this subject we wish to impress upon 
our readers the imprudence and dangers they run in 
using cups, tumblers, towels, or anything which others 
have used, without a thorough washing. Diseases of 
the most disgusting and frightful character have been 
often contracted by so doing. Nor should they ever 
allow themselves to be kissed by acquaintances in 
whom they have not the fullest confidence. There is 
related in a recent medical periodical, the story of a 
young lady of Pennsylvania, who, from the innocent 
kiss of a young gentleman at a picnic, became the 
victim of the most hideous disease, perhaps, known to 
medicine. Let her case be a warning to all others to 
reserve this favor for the dearest and the most worthy 
only. 



ON TEETHING. 123 

THE TEETH. 

What beauty is there in a smile, unless it discloses 
two symmetrical rows of 

"Delicate, little, pearl-white wedges, 
All transparent at the edges ?" 

There is no excuse in our* clay , when dental surgery 
is practised with such signal success, for marring 
the pleasure of the beholder by their absence. Bad 
teeth do worse than this. They cause foul breath, they 
give rise to wrinkles and falling in of the cheeks, they 
excite atrocious neuralgias, they disturb the digestion, 
disorder the sight, and not unfrequently deprave the 
whole system. It is the first precept of health and 
beauty to put them in the best order, and to keep 
them so. 

This branch of cosmetic medicine has been so 
thoroughly studied, and is exclusively practised by 
such scientific and capable men in all our large cities, 
that we shall say nothing about the means adopted to 
repair, or to extract, or to manufacture, or to allay 
pain in teeth, but confine ourselves wholly to their 
preservation. 

To begin at the beginning, the child during teeth- 
ing should be surrounded by those precautions with 
regard to diet, etc., which pertain to the hygiene of 
infancy, and which need not be rehearsed here. The 
permanent teeth commence to appear at the age of 



12 4 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

seven years, and frequently the latest of them, the 
"wisdom teeth" as they are called, do not arrive until 
adult age is reached. During the whole of this time 
it is highly important to see that none of them grow 
crooked, irregular, or too close. Judicious pressure, 
if necessary the extraction of one or two, will certainly 
restore them to their proper places. Parents should 
not be in a hurry to draw the "baby teeth." Let 
them almost or quite fall out by themselves. This 
insures a well developed base for their permanent 
successors. 

The second teeth should be thirty-two in number, 
symmetrically disposed in the upper and lower jaws, 
hard, white, and capable of active service. Such a set 
is almost a sure indication of sound digestion, healthy 
nutrition, and a good constitution. 

A third set sometimes appears in aged persons, and 
are in every respect as sound and useful as their pre- 
vious ones. But when people reach fourscore, they 
have not much to do with cosmetic medicine, nor it 
with them, so we shall not delay ourselves with these 
extraordinary cases. 

The first rule about teeth is the simplest : use them. 
They were given us to chew our food, and unless w^e 
put them to this use in earnest, they will give out for 
want of something to do, and the stomach will give 
out from having too much to do. Chew, therefore, 
the food thoroughly, and chew on both sides, not at 



USE YOUR TEETH. 125 

once, like Sancho Panza, but alternately, so that all 
can have a fair share of labor. The tooth is like the 
arm ; use it regularly, and it will be healthy, well-de- 
veloped, handsome; give it little or nothing to do, and 
it becomes weak, soft, unsightly. 

This is all the advantage (for the teeth) there is in 
"whole-meal bread,'' bran bread, and so forth, which 
of late years have been much preached about. There 
is no necessity for such unusual diet. In the army it 
was remarked how well the men's teeth were preserved. 
A dentist of acknowledged skill has told us he saw 
this in many instances, and attributes it to the "hard 
tack," the drj r , tough soldier-crackers the men ate* 
They were forced to chew them thoroughly, and thus 
their teeth had more to do, and were the better for it. 

There is no need of "hard tack," either. Simply 
masticate deliberately and well such food as is set be- 
fore you, and the result will be the same. 

But looking at this sentence again, we are con- 
strained to modify it. Food may be, doubtless daily 
is, set before you which, so far as your teeth are con- 
cerned, you will do wisely to decline, or to partake of 
but sparingly. An}^ food or drink very hot or cold 
injures the enamel. This "enamel" is the external, 
white, glittering part of the tooth. It is chiefly lime, 
and anything sour corrodes or softens the lime, to the 
injury and final destruction of the whole tooth. There- 

11* 



126 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

fore, acid fruits, drinks, or dressings are hurtful, if 
taken constantly. 

There is much discussion whether sugar, sugar can' 
dy, confectionery, and similar "goodies," ought to be 
renounced. We think a moderate indulgence in pure 
sugar and well-made confections entirely harmless. 
The sugar changes to an acid in the mouth if retained 
there, so that the habit of keeping candy long between 
the teeth, or eating it very constantly, has its dangers. 
Then some confections, such as sour-drops, tamarinds, 
and others, are acidulated by a little tartaric or weak 
sulphuric acid, which is seriously and immediately 
hurtful. Clean cane sugar and maple sugar are used 
in extraordinary quantities where they are produced, 
and they do not corrode the teeth at all. So let the 
children keep their mintsticks, and don't debar them 
from the sugar-plums. It is possible they may live 
long, and find few pleasures at once more enjoyable 
and more innocent. 

" Use as not abusing," is the rule. Teeth were never 
meant for nut-crackers, nor for scissors to cut thread, 
as so many women seem to think while sewing, nor 
for a rack to hold scissors, pins, and needles, nor for 
a corkscrew to pull a cork from a bottle, nor for pincers 
or a vice to hold a piece of muslin, nor for any of a 
hundred purposes to which they are daily put. 

"But I have used them thus for years, and it has 
not hurt them at all." 



"DIPPING." 127 

Indeed. "The pitcher that goes oft to the well," — 
do you know the proverb ? It is somewhat must3\ 

There is another abuse of the teeth, the mouth, and 
the whole body, which we may as well delicately repre- 
hend. We mean — well, not to put too fine a point 
upon it, as the immortal Micawber says — " snuff-dip- 
ping." It is foolish to deny that in certain parts of 
our country this disgusting habit prevails widely 
among the better classes of society, and is nigh uni- 
versal among the lower. "We passed several days, 
once, in the house of a lady by birth, wealth, and po- 
sition, the wife of a General .of some distinction (Fede- 
ral or Confederate we say not), whom we saw using 
with caution, but with assiduity, the hateful dipping- 
stick. A leading snuff manufacturer tells us that his 
market is chiefly for this purpose, and that certain 
brands are notoriously used in no other way. Now, 
there is nothing which ever has, or ever can be said 
against smoking or chewing, from King James'" Coun- 
terblast against Tobacco" downward, which does not 
apply with tenfold force to this nauseous indulgence. 

We are no tobacco-phobes. We confess, indeed, to 
having gazed without repugnance, even with sentiments 
akin to admiration, at some dark-eyed Spanish damsel, 
delicately applying to her ripe lips the fragrant ciga- 
rette, and wreathing her raven tresses in odorous cir- 
clets of silvery clouds. But snuff-dipping, pah! The 
offence is rank, Let us leave it. 



123 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

The particles of food which remain between the 
teeth soon ferment, and become injurious to the ena- 
mel. Therefore, after eve^ meal the mouth should be 
well rinsed with water, as near the natural temperature 
of the hody as may be. Next, a toothpick should be 
employed to extract whatever fragments have not been 
removed. The best toothpicks are of quill, tortoise- 
shell, ivory, or gold. No other materials, neither wood 
nor base metals, should be chosen. 

The toothpick is an instrument of the toilet much 
less employed by ladies in this country than in Europe, 
and than it deserves to be. In Germany, vases of them 
are placed on the dinner-table with as much regularity 
as the saltcellar. It is related of Prince von Kaunitz, 
Prime Minister of Maria Theresa of Austria, and 
greatest fop and diplomatist of his day, that in this 
respect he was so finical that whenever he went out to 
dine, he had his servant bring a box containing all 
sorts and shapes of toothpicks. These he would use 
between the courses. One day, a guest, who disliked 
the supercilious old nobleman, cried out to a servant, 
"Waiter, bring the Prince von Kaunitz some towels 
and water. He forgot to make his toilet before com- 
ing." After that, the Prince never accepted an invita- 
tion to dine out, even with the Empress. Poor man! 
He was so afraid of death that he would never permit 
the word to be mentioned in his presence. By devot- 
ing himself to his health, he lived beyond fourscore, 



THE BES T DENTIFRICE. 129 

and then, out of pique at some slight from the court, 
starved himself to death ! 

When the gums are tender, or the teeth show a ten- 
dency to decay, or the breath is fetid, a mouth-wash 
should be used several times a day, and on retiring. 
The best of these are spirits of camphor, half a tea- 
spoonful in a wineglass of water: the same amount of 
honey-of-roses {Mel rosarum, IT. S. P.) to the water : 
a teaspoonful of pure French brandy, or of a mixture 
of equal parts of tincture of myrrh and compound 
tincture of cinchona, in the same quantity of water. 
The temperature of all washes, and all fluids used in 
cleansing the mouth, should be near that of the body. 

There are certain substances which are used as pre- 
servatives of the teeth. The best is wood charcoal, 
especially that of the areca nut, in an impalpable pow- 
der. /This nut is brought from Java, and its charcoal 
in powder is probably the best dentifrice in the world. 
It sweetens the breath, strengthens and whitens the 
teeth, removes the tartar, prevents toothache, and gives 
the gums and lips an attractive red color. Unfortu- 
nately, the supply is limited, and nine-tenths of that 
sold as areca-nut charcoal is made from willow wood. 
About as much of the charcoal should be used as can 
be held on the point of a knife. It should be placed 
in the mouth on retiring at night, and gently rubbed 
into the interstices of the teeth. In the morning it is 
to be carefully rinsed out. The only objection to 



130 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

charcoal is, that it occasionally leaves a dark line at 
the base of the teeth. This can be prevented by at- 
tention, and by keeping the mouth closed during sleep 
— a very important point to observe for all who would 
have sound teeth and a sweet mouth. 

We next come to the choice and the use of the tooth- 
brush, a modern invention, though substitutes for it, 
such as pieces of soft wood, coarse woollen cloth, and 
so forth, have been familiar adjuncts of the toilette 
table time out of mind. The Chinese ladies aim to 
have their teeth black, the Persians red, the Japanese 
gilt, but we have a preference for the natural white, 
and how to preserve that pearly lustre without injury 
to the enamel is one of the problems of the cosmetic 
artist. 

The brush should be used morning and night, not 
violently but thoroughly, on the front, back, and 
crowns of all the teeth. The bristles should be soft, 
not stiff nor harsh, and of unequal length in each tuft, 
so that they will reach to the interstices of the teeth. 
They should be cut convexly, so as to adapt them to 
the inner side of the teeth, and arranged in three or 
four rows. Such brushes are now manufactured in 
England, and can be obtained in this city and else- 
where. 

There are some objections to the tooth-brush. It is 
apt to scratch the gums and wear the enamel to an ex- 
tent which is injurious. Owing to the stiffness of even 



TOOTH-SPONGES. 131 

• 

soft bristles, they do not reach into the inequalities of 
the teeth, and the sensation they convey to a sensitive 
mouth is often so disagreeable as to limit their use. 
We are for these reasons inclined to regard with great 
favor the recently introduced device of tooth-sponges. 
These are fine sponges, about the size of a large pigeon- 
egg, mounted firmly on handles of ivory or wood. 
Some are bleached to snowy whiteness, others soaked 
in odorous or odontalgic liquids which impart to 
them salubrious and pleasant qualities. 

These tooth-sponges are soft, searching, and plea- 
sant to the most tender gums. They are readily 
cleansed, cany a dentifrice more neatly than a brush, 
and seem to have no objectionable qualities. 

There is a host of dentifrices, tooth-powders, and 
tooth tinctures, offered in the market. We advise 
our readers to be guarded in their use of secret pre- 
parations, no matter how loudly and expensively they 
are advertised, and no matter how pleasant they may 
seem on use. It is easy to whiten the teeth by the use 
of acids and corrosive or gritty substances, which will 
soon destroy them, and it is reasonable to suppose that 
any dentifrice, which is a secret preparation, may contain 
ingredients which are dangerous, and dare not be made 
known. An assertion to the contrary has the less 
weight, as when a man knowingly sells such injurious 
stuff, he will nDt stickle at a falsehood to conceal its 
noxious qualities. 



132 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

We shall now give a number of tooth-powders which 
are harmless, efficient, and agreeable. We have used 
them in our practice for years, sometimes one, some- 
times the other, as persons preferred or seemed to re- 
quire, for some teeth and gums demand different pre- 
parations from others. The best of all is the freshly 
prepared charcoal of the areca nut, or of willow, in 
impalpable powder. It should be kept tightly corked, 
and used without the addition of any other substance. 

An excellent ordinary powder, where camphor is not 
disagreeable, is — 

Precipitated chalk seven drachms ; 

Powdered camphor half a drachm ; 

Powdered orris root one drachm. 

Mix them thoroughly. 

The following is an admirable paste for occasional 
use: — 

White, dried castile soap, in fine powder, 
Sepia, in powder, equal parts. 

Mix to the consistency of paste with fresh, rectified 
honey, and acid a few drops of oil of teaberry (Gaul- 
theria). It should be used only occasionally, as the 
sepia wears the enamel when often applied. 
Another good preparation is — 

Sugar of milk two ounces ; 

Tannic acid quarter of an ounce ; 

Red lake half a drachm ; 

Oil of cloves, teaberry, or anise a few drops. 



SOME TOOTH POWDERS. 133 

Mix carefulty. This is particularly useful when the 
teeth have been stained by taking medicines contain- 
ing iron. 

When the gums are sore and spongy with a tendency 
to bleed, the following should be used : — 

Precipitated chalk one ounce ; 

Powdered borax half an ounce ; 

Powdered myrrh quarter of an ounce ; 

Powdered orris-root quarter of an ounce. 

If it is desired to whiten the teeth very rapidly, the 
following powder may be obtained, but ordinarily it 
should never be employed more than once or twice a 
week, as it wears the enamel with great rapidity. 
Pumice-stone is one of the objectionable ingredients in 
secret tooth-powders. 

Pumice-stone in impalpable powder one ounce ; 

Bicarbonate of soda half an ounce ; 

Powdered talc half an ounce ; 

Some flavoring oil a few drops. 

With the pumice-stone omitted, the remaining arti- 
cles can be freely used when the saliva is acid and the 
breath sour. 

If one or another of these powders is judiciously 
applied, and the other precautions for the care of the 
teeth observed, we can almost guarantee our readers 
that they will live long without taking a seat in the 
dentist's chair, unless the mischief has already been 
done. They must, furthermore, avoid cleansing the 
12 



134 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

teeth with cigar ashes, or causing the gums to bleed 
with the tooth-pick or brush, or rubbing them with 
cream of tartar or any other acid. But they may, if 
they please, in the early summer crush a ripe straw- 
berry around the teeth before retiring, and let the pulp 
remain there during the night. It is a marvellous 
secret for giving the enamel a lustrous hue, and the 
breath a richly fruity aroma, comparable to the zephyr 
wafted from some Isle of Eden in a summer sea. A 
lotion of permanganate of potash, which is esteemed 
very highly in Europe, we shall mention later, when we 
come to speak of offensive breath, and how to pre- 
vent it. 

A curious fact in physiology will make an appro- 
priate close to this section. It has, moreover, a direct 
connection with the beauty of the teeth. Though they 
have no real circulation, their color is found to change 
with the changes in the health. In bilious people 
they become yellow; in scrofulous and consumptive 
patients they show occasionally an unnaturally pearly 
and translucent whiteness. It is absurd, therefore, for 
all to wish to have teeth similar to the most admired 
models. 

THE VOICE. 

What a touch of nature is that where Lear, bending 
with unfathomable sorrow in his aged eyes over Cor- 
delia's body, thinks he hears some half-whispered 



A SOFT VOICE. 135 

word, and lest those around should utter the doubt he 
feels himself, says: — 

Her voice was ever soft, 
Gentle and low ; an excellent thing in woman ! 

This is the verdict of every society. A harsh, mas- 
culine voice, strident, loud, or shrill, we associate with 
fish-wives, with throats rasped by fiery liquors, with 
viragos, and common-scolds. It was not with such a 
tone, but "in a clear, melodiously-piercing voice," as 
the chronicles are particular to say, that the Empress 
Maria Theresa appeared, babe in arms, before the 
black-bearded Magyars of Hungary, to appeal to them 
to save her crown. The proud, semi-barbaric nobles 
were touched, overpowered, by the sight and the tone. 
They sprang to their feet, swung aloft their naked 
swords, and with one voice shouted, Vitam et san- 
guinem pro rege nostro Maria Theresa^ "Our life and 
our blood for our King Maria Theresa" — not Queen, 
for a queen to rule over Hungary, those haughty 
magnates would never brook — in grammar. 

A soft, clear, modulated tone of voice should Toe as- 
siduously cultivated. It is a valuable acquirement in 
society to read well, especially poetry. Children 
should be trained not merely to pronounce distinctly, 
but to express feeling in tone. For this, parlor theat- 
ricals are admirably fitted, and have ever been favorite 
amusements in polished circles. Our national talent 
is much inferior in this respect to that of the Italians 



136 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

for example. We are hardly equal to their system of 
private dramas. They fix on the plot, the acts, the 
scenes, and the incidents, and then, the parts being 
assigned, leave each participant to fill up the words 
for himself or herself. Travellers say it is really as- 
tonishing with what wit and fluency they acquit them- 
selves. 

Some persons are very subject to hoarseness on 
every exposure, to u a frog in the throat,." as it is fa- 
miliarly called from the croaking sound of the voice. 
They will find this frequently prevented by bathing 
the throat night and morning in cold water, or salt 
and water, by gargling every morning with a weak so- 
lution of tannic acid, or alum, and by guarding against 
varying the protection of the throat. When the 
hoarseness is already present, it can be often dispersed 
by inhaling the fumes of iodine, or the steam from hot 
water poured on chlorate of potash, or by taking 
slowly the white of an egg, beaten up with sugar. 
Still more efficient, and a favorite with singers, is a 
tumbler of water containing five or six drops of dilute 
nitric acid (Acidum nitricum dilutum, U. S. P.) swal- 
lowed slowly twice a day. A lemon is often sucked 
for the same purpose. When the hoarseness is perma- 
nent, as it often is in clergymen and other public 
speakers, the use of the Turkish bath twice a week has 
a most excellent effect. 

The training of the voice in singing is a subject of 



THE VOICE IN SINGING. 137 

such importance that we cannot enter upon it here. 
Suffice it to say that very useful hints may often be 
learned by having the throat examined by the laryn- 
goscope, either when there is a difficulty in forming 
certain sounds, or where the voice becomes "cracked," 
or " broken." These latter conditions depend generally 
on some local debility in the throat, which can be 
treated and amended. No singer who values her pow- 
ers should sing in the open air, or too long at a time, 
or on a higher key than is easy for her, or at a period 
when her general health is at all below par. We know 
an instance where a single infraction of these rules has 
ruined completely and irremediably an excellent so- 
prano. 

Often a course of natural sulphur waters, at one of 
the " Sulphur Springs" in Virginia or elsewhere, is of 
signal service in restoring and improving the failing 
powers of the voice. When shallowness of the purse, 
or other reason, prevents one from taking this agree- 
able prescription, an artificial sulphur water can be 
prepared and used at home with good, but not so good 
effects. 

We can go through the world comfortably without 
singing; but we cannot get along at all pleasantly 
without the power of distinct speech. It is, therefore, 
a most important branch of cosmetic surgery to 
remedy defects in the articulation and the pronuncia- 
tion of letters, syllables, and words, such as lisping, 

12* 



138 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

stuttering, stammering, thickness or indistinctness of 
the voice, loss of voice, or difficulty in enunciation. 
Most of these difficulties depend upon remediable 
causes. But it is singular how completely this branch 
is neglected by most physicians. 

When, for instance, we commence to devote our 
attention to the methods recommended to cure stam- 
mering, we do not find a single author in the English 
language who treats it from a scientific point of view. 
It has been left in the hands of elocutionists and 
charlatans, who are given to lauding some individual 
method of their own as successful in every case. 

Such claims bear upon their face their own refuta- 
tion. It is as if a man pretended to cure blindness by 
some one remedy. Blindness arises from a host of 
diverse conditions of the organ. So does stammering. 

It may be the innervation which is at fault, and then 
electricity promises much. It is sometimes an inborn 
muscular debility, and then we can employ the instru- 
ments devised by Dr. Itard and others, with fair pros- 
pects. Occasionally it is owing to a contraction of 
certain muscles, and these were the cases which the 
famous surgeon Dierlenbach cured by cutting those 
muscles. Not unfrequently it is of the nature of 
chorea, when we must treat it with internal remedies 
as we do that disease. Frequently, certain letters 
and sounds only are stammered, and then a series of 
lingual gymnastics will be followed by prompt amend- 



STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 139 

ment. Each case must be carefully examined and 
treated according to its own nature. If this is done, 
and if the sufferers will make a most determined 
resolution to recover, they will do so. 

Demosthenes was a stammerer when young. He 
used to stand for hours on the sea-beach of Attica, and 
with his mouth full of pebbles, declaim loud enough 
to drown the roaring of the surf. He cured himself. 
We have heard of a young gentleman who imitated his 
example with praiseworthy persistence. He was not 
in the least benefited. He did not reflect that his 
stammering had quite a different cause from that of 
the great Athenian orator. 

The letters which are pronounced with difficulty 
often betray the seat of trouble. If the k sounds like g 
hard, there is rigidity of muscle present ; if the r sounds 
like an 1, the tongue is at fault ; if the b, p, or v, is 
mispronounced, the lips or teeth may be the cause. 

The stammerer has no child's play before him, but in 
the majority of cases he can confidently expect decided 
amendment or complete restoration, if he is diligent, 
patient, untiringly vigilant. The cure should not be 
commenced before the sixteenth or seventeenth year, 
as self-control is wanting ; nor is it favorable after the 
age of thirty has been passed, as then inveterate habit 
has grown into nature. 

The entire loss of the voice, so that one cannot speak 
above a whisper, is a common affliction. It is gene- 



140 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

rally a nervous disease, and plays curious freaks. A 
young lady, for instance, a teacher in one of our public 
schools, lost her voice daily when school closed, but it 
always came back to her the next morning when the 
school opened. Another conversed without difficulty, 
in her natural voice, from the time she rose in the 
morning until noon. But as soon as the clock struck 
twelve, she could not make a sound above a whisper 
until the next morning. We had under our care a 
young man, who for seven months had not spoken 
aloud. We asked him one day to tell the servant to 
bring some water. Without thinking what he was do- 
ing, he called loudly in his natural voice, and had no 
trouble in using it afterwards. 

Herodotus, the Greek historian, tells this story of 
Croesus, King of Lydia. Fortune had blessed him with 
wide lands, untold riches, and an accomplished son, 
but had withheld from the latter the gift of speech 
above a whisper. Croesus called in the wise men and 
the physicians, and when they failed, finally appealed 
to the gods themselves. He sent rich gifts to the far- 
famed oracle of Delphi, and asked that his son might 
speak aloud. The seeress, gazing with prophetic eye 
into the future, returned this answer : — 

"Wide ruling Lydian, in thy wishes wild, 
Ask not to hear the accents of thy child ; 
Far better is his silence for thy peace, 
And sad will be the day when that shall cease." 



LISPING. 141 

Years passed, and fortune frowned on the great 
king. His enemies besieged and -captured his capital. 
A common soldier meeting him in the street, and not 
knowing who it was, drew his sword to kill him. Sud- 
denly the dumb son, who was with him, called out in a 
loud voice, " Oh man, do not kill Croesus, " and saved 
his father's life. Ever afterwards his speech was re- 
stored. 

Modern experience teaches us that these strange, 
almost miraculous -cures can be brought about by a 
simple and ready means — electricity. Pass the electric 
current along the vocal chords within the throat, and 
the patient, who has not spoken above her breath for 
months or years, will often address you at once in her 
natural voice. At other times, loss of voice is asso- 
ciated with serious disorder of the throat and lungs, 
and is next to hopeless. 

Lisping is a confusion of the sounds s and th. 
Taken earlj' in life, it is readily amended. If a child 
is thoroughly drilled in the pronunciation of Greek, 
he will surely break the habit. 

Certain odors and articles of food should be shunned 
by those who wish to preserve their voice in full health 
The fumes of an extinguished candle, an}' rank smoke, 
gas, or vapor, are very injurious. Even the most fra- 
grant Havana must be condemned from this point of 
view. Tobacco smoke should be shunned by a singer. 
Acid fruits, and such as contain pungent oils, are also 



142 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

injurious. Walnuts, almonds, and pecan-nuts have an 
especially bad reputation here, whether justly or not 
we cannot say. 

OFFENSIVE BREATH'. 

A " bad breath,' 7 as it is popularly called, is such a 
serious misfortune that we devote a separate section to> 
its consideration. Many an one who would be an 
engaging companion is rendered intolerable by it r 
by it many a damsel estranges her lover, many a wife 
her husband. 

We have termed it a misfortune. This is not quite 
correct. It is often a fault, one that could and should 
be remedied. Knowing how common it is, how nause- 
ous it is to associates, how mortifying to the individual 
herself, we have given close attention to its various 
causes in order to suggest remedies wherever remedies 
are of any avail. Often the first whiff of a fetid breath 
will reveal its origin, and if blindfolded one can pre- 
scribe the proper means by which it can be alleviated. 

The great majority of cases arise either from the 
lungs, the stomach, or the teeth. When from the 
lungs, the odor is of a sickening sweetish character ; 
when from the stomach, it is marked by the presence 
of that gas known as sulphuretted hydrogen, which we 
are most familiar with from its presence in rotten eggs ; 
when from the teeth, it is putrescent, reminding one of 
decaying animal tissue. It may also be produced from 



THE PUN OF BENSERADK 143 

diseases within the nostrils, or the throat, or from 
several of these causes- combined. 

Unfortunate, indeed, is the young lady who is thus 
made an object of disgust to her social companions. 
It is her duty to herself and to society to use every 
self-denial, every resource in her power to remedy this 
defect. The most polite of men cannot overcome their 
aversion so long as it continues. 

It is related of Benserade, court poet of Louis XIV., 
that he was obliged on one occasion to stand close to 
a lady whose breath was unpleasant, while she was 
singing a piece of her own composition. When she 
had finished, a bystander asked the poet what he 
thought of the piece and the artist. 

"Mademoiselle," he replied, "has an excellent voice, 
her words are well-chosen, but her air is frightful." 

The pun was not lost on those who happened to be 
in front of the singer. 

Worse consequences may ensue than to become the 
target of unfeeling jests. We know the instance of a 
physician who lost one after another of his cases of 
confinement, until the number was over forty. They 
all succumbed to puerperal fever. He took every con- 
ceivable precaution ; bathed, shaved even his hair, left 
the city for a week, all in vain. The reason was he 
had that disease "ozaena," which we have previously 
described, and into whatever room he entered, he car- 
ried a breath that poisoned its atmosphere. 



144 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

If it is the teeth that are at fault, they should he put 
under the care of an approved dentist to extract, fill, 
or treat in what manner their condition demands. 
When the cause is in the stomach, usually some form 
of dyspepsia is present; water and gases rise to the 
mouth, the body is constipated, and a general sense of 
unpleasantness is felt in body and mind. This condi- 
tion requires the enlightened care of the physician, 
whose duty it becomes to define to himself the precise 
character of the dyspepsia, to seek its origin, and to 
address to its cure those remedies which a mature ex- 
perience has placed at his command. There are, we 
may add for the benefit of sufferers, comparatively few 
instances where, with a hearty and intelligent co-opera- 
tion on their part, any failure will take place in treat- 
ing these cases. 

We cannot speak such cheering words to those who 
owe their offensive breath to the condition of the lungs. 
With them a grave malady is threatening, or is actually 
in progress. Their battle is no longer for good looks ; 
it is for dear life. By timely and judicious provisions 
they may forestall the foe who is insidiously stealing 
upon them. They may escape him by a flight to the 
sunny shores of Florida, or the dry plains of the north- 
west. But their welfare is too imminently endangered 
to permit them to trifle or to experiment. 1 

1 See on the subject of the treatment of consumption in its 
early stages, and the advantages of a change of climate, Dr. 



MIXTURE FOR THE BREATH. 145 

Those who owe their breath to chronic catarrh, to 
ozsena, or to some growth within the nose, may make 
up their minds to perhaps a protracted, but an ulti- 
mately successful treatment, and should lose no time 
in commencing it. 

These are general directions, .looking toward a radi- 
cal cure. Now we shall give some suitable to those 
cases where an unpleasant breath is not permanent, 
and not indicative of any serious disturbance of the 
system. For instance, in some ladies it only appears 
after a late supper, after eating some peculiar article 
of food, or at certain periodical times. 

If it is supposed to be connected with the teeth, or 
the secretions of the mouth, the following mouth-wash 
will be found most efficacious : — 

Permanganate of potash one grain ; 
Rose-water one ounce. 

Rinse the mouth well every few hours. 

The objection to this excellent mixture is, that it 
stains slightly the teeth, but the discoloration may 
readily be removed by a tooth-sponge or brush ; but so 
far from injuring, it will be of great service in preserv- 
ing them, and in preventing or relieving toothache. 
If the taste is unpleasant, a few drops of oil of pepper- 
mint or teaberry will conceal it. It is much better 

D. G. Brinton, " Guide-Book of Florida and the South," 
Phila., 1869. 
13 



146 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

than the washes often recommended, containing chlori- 
nated lime, which attacks the enamel. The following 
wash may also be used safely : — 

Chlorate of potash two drachms ; 

Kose-water .six ounces. 

Distilled water of any other flavor may be substituted. 

Yarious substances are in vogue to sweeten the 
breath, and to conceal either its naturally unpleasant 
odor, or some acquired scent, as of onions, tobacco, 
spirits, etc. The most elegant are cachous, troches, 
and lozenges, made chiefly of catechu, charcoal, gum 
tragacanth, or liquorice, flavored with aromatic essen- 
tial oils. Cardamom seed, cloves, and allspice, are 
altogether too vulgar, too commonly seen on fashion- 
able drinking bars, for any lady to have recourse to 
them. One might, horrible to suggest, suspect her of 
having been indulging in a little gin-and-water, or some 
such tipple. Coffee grains, fresh-roasted, have a high 
reputation for masking completely the scent, either of 
spirits or of onions, and having little odor of their own. 
Our observation leads us to believe that this is not 
undeserved. What we place equal reliance in, is the 
Canada snakeroot (Asarum Canadense, U. S. P.), a 
small portion of which can be chewed, or the root pow- 
dered and made into a lozenge. It leaves a fresh, cool, 
pleasant taste, and imparts a faintly spicy aroma to 
the breath. 

If there is a foul stomach, with a taste and odor of 



SOME RECIPES. 147 

stale eggs, a wineglassful of water containing three 
grains of chloride of lime (Calx chlorinata, IT. S. P,) 
should be swallowed several times a day, and the diet 
limited to easily digestible food, of which charcoal, 
either in the form of "charcoal crackers," or burnt, 
toast, should figure conspicuously. Any irregularities 
of food, drink, or sleep must be corrected, the natural 
functions regulated, and the skin kept in activity by 
frequent baths, and rubbing with a flesh-glove or coarse 
towel. A draught containing twenty grains of the 
bisulphite of soda has also an excellent effect on 
offensive breath arising from this cause. It may be 
taken^ masked with essence of peppermint, twice daily. 



THE ARM AND HAND. 

THE ARM. 

rpHE "upper extremity," -as anatomists call it, by 
-■- which they mean the arm, forearm, and hand, is 
so constantly brought into prominence in daily life that 
its care and embellishment become almost a weighty 
matter. If we divide the distance from the top of the 
shoulder to the end of the middle finger into fourteen 
equal parts, the length of the hand ought to equal 
three parts, the forearm five parts, and the arm above 
the elbow six parts. 

While moderate exercise improves the arm by en- 
larging symmetrically all the muscles, it is not in good 
taste for a wonian to display a brawny, sinewy mem- 
ber. It must have a roundness, one gentle curve 
sinking into another, which is not consistent with great 
muscular development. Constant and regular use 
will most surely tend to give a correct shape. 

Bracelets should not be worn tight enough to affect 
(148) 



THE MARKS OF HANDICRAFT. 149 

the circulation, nor loose enough to rub on the wrist 
joint. If, as is sometimes the case, they cause an 
irritation of the skin, they should be laid aside al- 
together. 

THE HAND AND FINGERS. 

Many a fine lady takes more pride in a beautiful 
hand than in any other feature of her person. " Good 
Queen Bess," royal old coquette that she was, is an 
example in point. At her levees she used to take care 
to have one of her hands prominently displayed. They 
were small, white, soft, and well proportioned, so she 
had a right to be proud of them. 

To have such a delicate hand as hers is not in the 
power of every one. Most of us are under the law of 
toil, and bear upon us the indelible imprint of our 
handicrafts. An eminent French surgeon has asserted 
that by the inspection of this member alone he can 
tell, nine times out of ten, what is the avocation of the 
individual. Every trade, every employment — except 
the tread-mill — calls for some assistance from the hand 
— that " divine tool," as old Aristotle called it. " The 
miller's thumb," broad and flattened with testing of 
the grain between it and the forefinger, is a proverbial 
expression. The fiddler's left hand, with its flattened 
and horny finger tips, betrays his trade. Shakspeare, 
in that touching sonnet which reveals the bitterness 
with which he saw himself, with all his divine spirit, 
13* 



150 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

forced to dress as a clown, and tickle a dull crowd to 

laughter for a sustenance, exclaims : — 

" Tlience comes it that my name receives a brand, 
And almost thence my nature is subdued 
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand." 

Lifting heavy objects, sweeping, washing, scrubbing, 
when long continued, and especially during growth, 
destroy the admired shape and elegant contour. The 
hand of little use not only has the daintier touch but 
the daintier form ; the fingers are round and tapering, 
the joints are small, the skin smooth, the lines shallow. 
In the words of Ariosto, it is : — 

"Lunghetta alquanto e di larghezza angusta." 
Compare such a one with the hand of a washer- 
woman, and note how beauty wins through idleness. 
Does the game pay for the candle? Ah! that is a 
serious question, which each must decide for herself. 

Even the lighter employments deform, to some ex- 
tent, this complex member. In writing, if the pen is 
held awkwardly, or in a cramped position, it will soon 
leave a slight disfigurement. A too small thimble will 
distort the finger tips. Rings are often left on the 
fingers until they are half buried in a deep crease, and 
it is next to impossible to remove *hem. The arm 
should be elevated and the finger soaked in ice-water 
for ten or fifteen minutes, then immediately anointed 
with glycerine, and the ring slipped off. If this fails, 
the finger should be very tightly wrapped in fine, 



HAND- SHAKING. 151 

strong, well-waxed sewing silk from the tip upward ; 
when the ring is reached, the end of the silk should be 
slipped beneath it with a blunt bodkin, and then, as the 
string is unwound, the ring will be forced down. 
Sometimes even this does not succeed, and the ring 
has to be filed off, or what is far better, thoroughly 
cleansed with ether, and rubbed with quicksilver for 
some minutes, when it will readily fall to pieces, and 
can be thus removed without pain, delay, or exertion. 

We have known at least one instance where the hand 
had become puffy and ill-shaped by wearing gloves fast- 
ened too tightly across the wrist. And we remember 
seeing President Lincoln's right hand on one occasion 
when it was actually swollen by a series of violent hand- 
shaking. Why is it that this absurd custom of "pad- 
dling palms" has been allowed to become so universal 
among us? It is a severe infliction on public men. 
General George Washington, it is well known, had a 
strong aversion to it, and at his levees always stood 
with his hands behind him, simply bowing with digni- 
fied courtesy as one after another was presented. Our 
best society, we are glad to see, are discountenancing 
hand-shaking as a general custom, and reserve it for a 
mark of personal, kindly feeling. 

It is needless to emphasize the importance of the 
use of gloves. The best are those of animal fibre, as 
kid, doeskin, or buckskin. The court ladies in old 
times probably could never boast of their pretty white 



152 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

hands, for the fashion of wearing gloves in full dress 
was first introduced in England by Anne Boleyn, the 
unfortunate queen of Henry the Eighth. They were 
not at all popular at first, and the great ladies of the 
court, jealous that the country girl beco-me a queen 
should thus outstrip them in the arts of beauty, circu- 
lated the report that she had six fingers, and took this 
mode of concealing the deformity. 

In later days the fops transcended the belles in their 
mania for this luxury. Beau Brummell and the Count 
d'Orsay each used to wear six different pairs daily, 
and never put on the same pair twice. 

Softness and whiteness of the hands are prized by 
every beauty, and many a one who don't pretend to 
be a beauty. It is supposed to be something difficult 
to attain. Not at all. In the first place, do not ex- 
pose them to the wind and sun too freely. Never em- 
ploy strong soaps, or hard water. 

"But if the water is hard?" 

Put a teaspoonful of powdered borax in the basin. 

"And if we have no borax? A lady don't carry a 
drug-store with her on her travels." 
• Don't wash the hands. It is as a rule superfluous, 
in fact an injury, from a cosmetic point of view, this 
constant moistening the skin. 

The Baron Alibert was some years since the most 
celebrated of all the Parisian surgeons for treating 
diseases of the skin. One day a lady said to him : — 



THE SECRET OF ALIBERT. 153 

"Doctor, how white and smooth your hands are. 
Why don't you tell us your secret for keeping them so ?" 

"Madam," replied the doctor, "if I were to tell you, 
you would not believe me ; or at any rate you would 
not imitate me." 

" Oh yes I will, doctor ; do tell me." 

"I never wash them " 

"What!" 

"With water." 

"With what then?" 

"With the best oliye oil of Aix. Don't you remem- 
ber that the ancient athletes anointed themselves daily 
with oil ? You may be sure those gallants were never 
troubled with skin diseases." 

Since Baron Alibert's time we have discovered some- 
thing even better than the oil of Aix ; it is glycerine. 
A bottle of pure glycerine — but chemically pure, re- 
member, without any of those salts of lime or of lead 
which are found in much of the glycerine sold, and 
which will discolor and irritate the skin — should form 
an indispensable adjunct in every lady's toilet set. A 
tablespoonful of it in a pint of water will soften and 
protect the hand from the air. It should be rubbed in, 
but not wiped off. 

To whiten the hands promptly, five or six grains of 
chlorinated lime may be dissolved in the water, which 
in all cases should be as near the temperature of the 
body as may be. The lotions which contain corrosive 



154 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

sublimate, sometimes recommended, must be needfully 
used, as we have known them, even when very weak, to 
irritate the skin violently. 

Not at all dangerous, and of good service in render- 
ing the hands soft and smooth, is this perhaps familiar 
recipe: Take horse-chestnuts, peel and dry them 
thoroughly in the oven. Pound or grind them into a 
fine powder. Put a tablespoonful into the wash-water, 
whenever the hands are rinsed. 

Here is another wash which has been deservedly 
praised, not onlyfor preventing redness of the hands, 
but for improving the skin, and destroying warts : — 

Muriate of ammonia a teaspoonful ; 
Aromatic vinegar a tablespoonful ; 

Tepid soft water a quart. 

Soak the hands in this for ten or fifteen minutes morn- 
ing and evening. 

The use of " cosmetic gloves," as they are called, 
has long b6en known in some countries, and there are 
ladies who glove themselves as regularly on retiring to 
bed, as they do on going into the street. These gloves, 
when designed simply to soften and whiten the hands, 
are prepared by brushing the inside of a pair of stout 
kid or dog-skin gloves with the following mixture : — 

Yelk of two fresh eggs, 

Oil of sweet almonds, of each two tablespoonfuls ; 
Tincture of benzoin a dessertspoonful ; 

Eose-water a tablespoonful. 



COSMETIC GLOVES. 155 

Beat them well together, and keep in a closely corked 
bottle. The gloves should be freshly painted every 
night, and the same pair should not be used longer 
than two weeks. 

When some disease of the skin is present, the gloves 
can be brushed with some more active preparation 
than that mentioned above. 

Gloves made of India-rubber are largely used in 
perference to those of skin for wearing at night. They 
confine the perspiration, and thus keep the skin bathed 
in moist warmth, rendering it softer, whiter, and more 
delicate. They are also of considerable efficacy in 
some cutaneous eruption, and for chapped hands. 

A clammy moisture of the hands is an annoyance 
with which some are afflicted. Possibly it is a sign of 
enfeebled health, but it may occur as a constitutional 
tendency. The lotion which we have just mentioned, 
containing muriate of ammonia, does efficient service 
here, too. So will half a teaspoonful of alum in the 
water, or rendering it sour with a few drops of aromatic 
sulphuric acid. For temporary purposes, the hands 
may be rubbed with French chalk (powdered soap- 
stone), or the "lycopodium" powder, which is the pro- 
duct of a curious Alpine moss. 

For " chapped" hands, pure glycerine, well rubbed 
in several times a day, cannot be improved upon, 
though sometimes it is necessary to follow up this with 
wearing gloves of caoutchouc cloth at night. The late 



156 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

celebrated actress, Madame Vestris, was said to wrap 
her hands every night in thin slices of fresh meat. 
This was not nice, nor a particle more efficient than to 
anoint them with fresh olive oil or pure glycerine, and 
then, without wiping, draw on the caoutchouc gloves. 
Fresh, unsalted butter is likewise an admirable ointment, 
but lard or cold cream, which is often made from 
coarse, half rancid, but highly scented animal fats, 
should be shunned. 

The hands are subject to a great number of deformi- 
ties. A French surgeon has recently written a book 
of nigh three hundred pages on them. That is as much 
as saying we do not intend to dilate upon them here. 
In remedying them, it is not enough that the surgeon 
should seek to re-establish the use of the member. He 
should also seek to restore its beauty. This is too 
generally lost sight of. Here, as elsewhere, the claims 
of cosmetic surgery are apt to be disregarded, to the 
subsequent annoyance of the patient. 
, One of the commonest deformities is enlarged joints. 
Chronic rheumatism and hard work are their parents. 
There is not much to be done for them. 

For warts, however, which are infinitely more com- 
mon, household remedies are as plenty as blackberries. 
We tried the following in our young days, prescribed 
by an old family servant : Steal a piece of fresh meat. 
Cut it into as many fragments as you have warts. 
Bury the fragments under a stone. As fast as they 



HOW TO CURE WARTS. 157 

decay, your warts will disappear. Owing to our bad 
success, and to^a due respect for the statutes of this 
commonwealth concerning misprision of felony, we 
have not recommended it in our practice. We prefer 
to touch them repeatedly with chromic acid, or tinct- 
ture of iodine (the colorless tincture, which leaves no 
unsightly stain, and which it is always best to employ 
on external parts), or with nitrate of silver. With 
one or other of these means they are sure to take their 
departure before long, and, curiously enough, as if they 
were in some occult sympathy, when one goes they 
usually all go. Another very efficient means is to 
treat them to a current of electricity daily. When in 
very great numbers internal remedies must be em- 
ployed, for which the famity physician should be con- 
sulted. 

THE NAILS. 

The nails should be oval in form, pink in color, with 
a white crescent at their base, and evenly cut a little 
below the tip of the finger. They should be frequently 
cleansed with the nail brush, which should be soft, and 
not stiff and harsh, as most of them are. The thin 
skin should be pressed away from their roots so as to 
display the pearly half moon there situated, and, by 
thus lengthening the oval of the nail, to give the finger 
a more tapering appearance. Often, too, this little 

14 



158 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

attention prevents those very painful affections known 
as " hang nails" or " ag nails." 

The most elegant hint we can offer concerning the 
color of the nails is to polish them now and then — not 
too often. It may be done by rubbing them length- 
wise with a soft sponge dipped in emery dust tinged 
with vermilion or carmine. This lends them a delicate, 
roseate hue. No one must ever think of scraping 
them with a knife or a bit of glass, as this may lead to 
troublesome diseases. 

An equally excellent nail powder, and the one com- 
monly sold in the shops, is oxide of tin, perfumed and 
colored with carmine. A little of it can be rubbed on 
the nail with a finger of the other hand, or with a piece 
of chamois leather. It soon renders the surface 
smooth, bright, and pink, which is not surprising, 
since this is the substance used to polish tortoise shell 
and horns. 

The school-girl habit of biting the nails must be 
broken up at once. If in children, rub a little extract 
of quassia on the finger tips. This is so bitter that 
they are careful not to taste it twice. Not only the 
nails, but the beauty of the whole finger and hand, is 
often forfeited by neglect in this respect. 

Sometimes the nails become brittle, crack, and break 
off readily in irregular pieces. This is a trouble diffi- 
cult to manage, and demands long medical treatment. 

Consumption is often accompanied with a deformity 



THE FINGER NAILS. 159 

of the nails. They grow curved over the ends of the 
fingers and are usually in perceptible ridges. 

Of course more serious matters than the treatment 
of the local malformation demand our attention when 
this is the case. 



THE LEG AND FOOT 



THE LEG. 



THE author of that excellent little book " Vulgarisms 
and other Errors of Speech," censures with just 
severity the American prudery which substitutes in con- 
versation, "limb," or "extremity," for leg. The latter 
is the proper and the only proper word, and those who 
shun it so anxiously lead one to suspect that they are 
in the habit of indulging tmbecoming thoughts. Like 
that literary prude, who once said to Dr. Johnson, the 
lexicographer : — * 

" Doctor, I am so much pleased with your Diction- 
ary, and especially because you have omitted all im- 
proper words." 

"So, madam," replied the caustic old humorist, 
"you searched for them, did you?" 

In anatomy, the leg extends from the knee down- 
ward, the thigh from the knee upward, and both these, 
together with the foot, are called "the lower extre- 
(160) 



A DELICATE HINT. 161 

mity," or "the lower limb." The bones of this extre- 
mity are differently arranged in woman and in man. 
One of the consequences of this is that no woman can 
run gracefully. They run, says a witty Frenchman, as 
if they intended to be overtaken. 

The knee should be midway between the lower line 
of the body and the ground. Below the knee the calf 
should rise rapidly, full and round, and taper gently 
to a slender ankle. 

A handsome leg is a rarity, we had almost said an 
impossibility, among American women. The reason of 
this is the place where they wear their garters. Xo 
Frenchwoman, no Englishwoman of cultivation, now-a- 
days wears her garter below the knee. It is ruinous 
to the shape of the calf. More than this, it has serious 
consequences of another kind. The principal vein of 
the leg (vena saphena brevis) runs just beneath the 
skin until it nearly reaches the knee, when it sinks 
between the muscles. Now if this is constricted at its 
largest part by a tight garter, the blood is checked in 
its return to the heart, the feet are easily chilled, and 
more liable to disease, the other veins of the leg are 
swollen into hard, blue knots, become varicose, as it is 
called, and often break, forming obstinate ulcers. This 
is a picture which a physician sees nearly every day. 

With the garter fastened above the knee all this 
pain and deformity is avoided. 

An ungraceful carriage is sometimes owing to "bow- 

14* 



162 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

legs," or "bandy-legs." This condition is brought 
about by allowing children to walk too soon. Every 
mother should be on her guard against it, as it is a 
source of much mortification, and cannot completely be 
hidden even by long dresses. Nothing can remedy it. 
False calves, manufactured of cork, and fastened to 
the leg beneath the stocking, are a device of the toilet 
which we have never, to our knowledge, observed out 
of Paris, and which might as well be allowed to remain 
as one of the peculiar features of that great capital. 

THE FOOT AND SHOE. 

A pretty foot, says Goethe, is the one element of 
beauty which defies the assaults of age. If properly 
cared for, it remains as perfect at seventy as it was at 
seventeen. We have the cheering certainty, therefore, 
that the attention we bestow on it will repay us as 
long as we live. 

Yet how little do we give to it ! What a sight it is 
in bathing hours on the sea-beach, to see the distorted, 
red, corned, bunioned, and swollen feet of the bathers ! 
No wonder "corn-doctors" do a thriving business, 
and can build handsome houses on their neighbors' 
toes ! 

A well-formed foot is scarcely to be found in modern 
civilization. The late actress, Madame Vestris, whom 
we have already mentioned, was said to have had the 



THE BEAUTY OF THE FOOT. 163 

handsomest of any woman of her day — so far as the 
observers could learn. She devoted uncommon care to 
its preservation. She always wore white satin slippers, 
exquisitely fitted, and not laced or buttoned, but sewed 
on every morning, and ripped off at night. So she 
wore a new pair every day. 

The foot should be slender, rounded, in length a 
little less than one-eighth of the height of the body, the 
heel only slightly prominent, and the middle of the 
foot arched. 

A flat foot has never been admired. It is brought 
about either by carrying heavy burdens, or wearing ill- 
shaped shoes. Therefore the arched foot used to be 
considered a sign of high-birth, and delicate breeding. 
In Spain, one of the proofs of ancient lineage, of true 
old "sangre azul" was to stand on a marble pavement, 
and let a tiny stream of water flow under the arch of 
the foot without wetting it. 

If the natural beauty of this member is so much de- 
faced, the shoemakers must answer for it. Their art 
is wofully behind the age in an aesthetic as well as a 
hygienic point of view. We cannot reform them, and 
we don't intend to try, so we shall content ourselves 
with giving a few hints to those who would display 
their feet to the best advantage, and preserve them in 
the most comfort. 

First, then, every one with the slightest wish for 
either of these good things, should have a last made 



1G4 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

for his own use. We can never find a perfectly- 
fitting shoe in a ready made shoe store. That is 
readily granted. Neither can we have one made on an 
old last. The feet of no two persons are exactly alike, 
so no last can fit them both. 

Thus, too, a foot always shows its own delicate 
natural form. 

Not that we urge any departure from the prevailing 
style of shoe. If carefully fitted, they will answer 
very well, although some female reformers have de- 
clared their independence of them. A distinguished 
woman who not long since returned from Europe, told 
a friend of ours, of an interview with Miss Florence 
Nightingale. During the conversation she could not 
help but notice the singular shape of that eminent 
lady's foot. She had never heard that Miss Nightin- 
gale was lame, or mal-formed, but certainly something 
was the matter. Her curiosity prompted her to inquire 
of some mutual friend, who at once explained that Miss 
Nightingale, despising the modern instrument of tor- 
ture vended by fashionable shoemakers, is accustomed 
to plant her stocking foot firmly on a piece of leather, 
draw the outline of 'the figure it forms, and have her 
shoe made to correspond exactly with it ! 

The heel should neither be very high nor narrow, 
as this throws the body forward, impairs the graceful- 
ness of the carriage, and is also apt to predispose the 
ankle to " turn" or give way, which is both awkward 



HOW TO CURE CORNS. 165 

and painful. The centre of the sole should rise above 
both heel and toe on the inside of the shoe, so as to 
preserve the arch of the foot. 

Our next subject is a tender one — not love, as you 
will at once guess, but — corns. They are the Xernesis 
which visits infraction of the rules we have just laid 
down. So common are they that in all our large cities 
there are individuals who devote themselves to their 
extraction, and make a living by it. These gentlemen 
are not always too implicitly to be relied upon. Some, 
indeed, are skilful and reputable specialists, but the 
majority are ignorant and tricky, thinking of nothing 
but how to " make business," that immortal principle 
which Charles Dickens says is the only stable and 
entirely certain one in English law. We had recently 
in our hands a small book published by one of them in 
which he urgently dissuades any one from cutting their 
own corns, but always to come to the celebrated chiro- 
podist, Dr. j to have it done ($5.00, if you 

please). 

This is charlatanism. Every person can not only 
cut, but cure their corns, if they will take the 
trouble. They can even learn to extract them on the 
feet of others, but not readily on their own. The 
method is simple, the operation painless, and we shall 
describe it. 

The only instruments needed are a pair of small steel 
forceps, and two or three blunt-pointed steel or silver 



1G6 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

instruments, technically called quadrilles. The corn is 
first softened by immersion in warm water, or by a 
drop of oil or glycerine. The foot is then held in a 
good light, and the centre of the corn loosened by 
passing the point of the quadrille gently around the 
circumference of the callous portion. This is seized by 
the forceps, and held to one side while the instruments 
loosen the other side. So the operation is continued, very 
gently and leisurely, until the whole callus is loosened 
and the corn picked out by the forceps. Under ordi- 
nary circumstances not the least pain need be given 
and not a drop of blood shed. This is the art and the 
mystery of corn doctoring. 

It requires some skill, some command over the 
fingers and the nerves; it cannot be performed on 
one's self. This is disappointing. But we have not 
yet divulged all the " tricks of the trade.' 7 Here are 
some methods of curing one's own proper and peculiar 
corns without assistance from any one. 

Take several small pieces of ordinary sticking plas- 
ter. Cut in them holes the size of the corn. Apply 
one over the other so as to surround the corn, but 
leave it exposed. Then in the opening drop a satu- 
rated solution of caustic soda, and cover with a thin 
piece of plaster. Renew this every other day for 
eight or ten days, and the corn will be gone. 

Or cut the corn carefully with a knife not too sharp, 
taking care that it is not cut to the quick or to blood. 



A CORN PLASTER. IGf 

Then touch it lightly with nitrate of silver in stick. 
In two or three days a dark, callous crust will cover 
the surface. Remove this with the knife, and apply a 
second time the silver nitrate. Do this for a fortnight, 
and if it is judiciously and regularly done, and the 
part protected from pressure, it will cure any corn. 

Very painful corns can be helped by being covered 
with the following plaster, though we have little faith 
in its curative powers : — 

Resin plaster one ounce ; 
Melt and stir in 

Muriate of ammonia two drachms ; 

Powdered opium one drachm. 

The strong tincture of iodine applied daily is often 
an efficient remedy, and another is to rub them morn- 
ing and night with a piece of pumice-stone. If well 
softened beforehand, this latter method, though tedi- 
ous, is satisfactory and painless. It is particularly 
suited to soft corns between the toes. 

A word concerning the cutting of corns. There is 
a right and a wrong way to do even this. Bear in 
mind that the part of the growth which is thick and 
painful is not near the edges, but in the centre. There- 
fore, they should be pared into a concave or funnel 
shape ; not flat across, but deeper in the middle than at 
the circumference. 

A bunion is a corn on a large scale, which has its 
seat on the outer side of the joint of the great toe. 






168 ' PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

As soon as there are any signs of their advent, a small, 
flat, hollow ring of India rubber should be worn to 
prevent pressure from the shoe. When once formed 
they can be reduced by assiduous poulticing, and 
touching with nitrate of silver, tincture of iodine, or 
chromic acid. Sometimes they become violently in- 
flamed, and then it is best to call in a surgeon, for 
grave injury of the joint may result, if they are neg- 
lected or ill-treated. 

A sleigh ride or a skating party leaves many a de- 
lightful reminiscence, and sometimes one that is not 
delightful, to wit, chilblains. They are the result of 
frosted feet, and keep up a burning and stinging for 
months, whenever the foot becomes warm. There are 
numerous domestic remedies in vogue for their pre- 
vention and cure. Soaking the feet in water in which 
potatoes have been boiled, in strong brine, in bran- 
water containing several teaspoonfuls of muriate of 
ammonia, rubbing them with oil of turpentine, all have 
their advocates among those respectable old ladies 
who are rich in domestic lore, and all occasionally do 
wonders. A more unfailing remedy will be found in 
keeping the parts moist with this lotion : — 

White Castile soap a drachm ; 

Milder solution of ammonia two drachms ; 

Tincture of cantharides two ounces. 

Or if it is too inconvenient to keep up an application • 
of this nature, the frost-bitten parts may be painted 



ON FETID FEET. 169 

morning and evening with equal parts of tincture of 
iodine and solution of ammonia, which, after all, is per- 
haps the best means we have jet suggested. 

We spoke at considerable length about offensive 
breath, but the odor of fetid feet is still less tolerable. 
It is impossible, with any comfort, to sleep in the same 
room with a person so afflicted, and not a few married 
women have traced their domestic unhappiness to this 
cause. It is not owing to lack of cleanliness, though 
this accusation is ever laid at the door of the unfortu- 
nate sufferers. The disturbed secretions of the skin 
may be at fault, and these must be changed ere we can 
look for any permanent amendment. This is a question 
for the physician, as the fetor is often connected with 
disease elsewhere, which must first be remedied. 

But we can offer some excellent suggestions as pal- 
liatives. The stockings must be woollen, and changed 
daily, and the shoes frequently. The latter should be 
large enough to admit a thin sole of felt, which should 
be steeped several times a week in a solution of per- 
manganate of potash, twenty grains to the ounce, and 
then dried and inserted. Several pairs of such soles 
should be kept on hand. The feet themselves should 
be washed morning and evening in cold water, contain- 
ing a few teaspoonfuls of alum, then well dried and 
anointed thoroughly with the following ointment : — 

Ointment of oxide of zinc one ounce ; 

Crystallized carbolic acid five grains. 

15 



170 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

In one instance of a young lady, faultless in the 
cares of the toilette, seemingly in excellent health, but 
with such an offensive perspiration to her feet that she 
could not remain at boarding-school, we tried with 
complete success, so far as we have since learned, the 
troublesome but efficient method recommended by the 
distinguished Professor Hebra, of Vienna. It is by 
means of strapping the foot assiduously with diachylon 
plaster, after having smeared it thoroughly with an al- 
terative mercurial ointment. 

The care of the toe-nails is essentially the same as 
that of the finger-nails, and should occupy quite as 
prominent a place in the daily duties of the toilette. 
They should be kept clean, cut a little shorter than the 
toe itself, the skin prevented from encroaching upon 
them, and occasionally polished with a little nail powder. 

Sometimes the nail, especially that of the great toe, 
grows into the flesh, causing a most painful sore. The 
surgeon's remedy is to tear out the whole nail, or one 
half of it, with the tweezers. Patients, however, are 
not easily persuaded to submit to this, and we recom- 
mend, therefore, the method of bandaging. This is 
done by placing a small pad firmly against the flesh, 
and binding it in that position by adhesive plaster. 
We have also used, both alone and in connection with 
bandages, the sesquichloride of iron, which destroys the 
vitality and sensitiveness of the flesh without causing 
any pain. 



SOME DEFORMITIES. 1^1 

Of the many deformities to which the foot is subject, 
such as club-foot, enlarged joints, tumors, and so forth, 
we shall say nothing. They belong, indeed, within the 
scope of cosmetic surgery, but to that higher branch 
of it which demands earnest study and professional 
skill, not to that which any intelligent individual may 
compass. Suffice it to say that modern art has devised 
many means by which such malformations may be re- 
dressed, and the crooked made straight, promptly and 
without causing pain. Therefore, those who are thus 
afflicted should not be deterred from taking proper ad- 
vice, and obtaining that large increase in the beauty 
and usefulness of the member which they may legiti- 
mately expect. Orthopedic surgeons of repute can be 
found in all our large cities. 



THE SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 

FROM THE ANATOMIST'S STAND-POINT. 

A CHARMING- subject, this of beauty, you would 
-*-*- think, and one that ought to inspire the prosiest 
pen; but in fact, when Destiny decreed that we should 
read up the literature that concerns it, she condemned 
us to the perusal of many a dry page. We say this in 
order to speak of one of the exceptions. This is the 
little book of Jacob le Bibliophile, Confessions archeo- 
logiques et cosmetiques. It is both witty and learned. 

Everybody who knows that old bookworm, knows 
that he is an original thinker. He has his own views 
about beauty too. 

" Beauty," he tells you, "is simply — the skin. Re- 
solve me the problem of preserving the skin, and the 
preservation of beauty is no longer a problem." 

" Thus it is easy to foresee the time when all women 
will be beautiful, for, without a doubt, certain precau- 
tions carefully conned and punctually observed, will 
maintain the lustre and fresh hue of youth and health. 
( m ) 



THE AGE OF BEAUTY. If3 

" I tell you we shall certainly have the Age of 
Beauty, and it will come, I fear me, before the Age of 
Wit, or the Age of Virtue, or the Age of Happiness.' ' 

This prophecy of the venerable lifre-lofre so cheers 
us, that we continue our labors with a feeling as if we 
were the heralds sent to announce the great time com- 
ing, when there shall be no more rivalry among the 
belles, for they shall all be equally lovely. Mindful of 
his definition of beauty, we shall be very minute in 
what we have to say about the skin. 

What is the skin ? 

Any doctor will answer j^ou with alacrity, that it is 
the protecting cover to the exterior of the bod}^, that 
it is composed of two layers, the epidermis or scarf- 
skin on the outside, a structure usually thin and with- 
out sensation, and the derma or true skin, a sensitive 
layer of fibres with minute eminences, immediately 
beneath the epidermis. The epidermis is composed of 
numerous cells. These contain the coloring matter 
which gives the dark hue to the brunette, and to the 
brown and black races of men. It is the epidermis 
which rises when a blister has "drawn." Blister a 
negro, and when the epidermis comes away, you will 
find the spot is white. His color, which we make such 
an ado about, is not even skin-deep ; it is barely scarf- 
skin-deep.. 

So it is with freckles, moles, moths, and most kind 
of spots on the skin. They are very superficial, and 

15* 



H4 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

do not affect the true skin at all. Here is matter for 
wholesale consolation. For where is the lady who has 
not on some part one or a dozen of these blemishes she 
fain would get rid of? In point of looks, it is the 
scarf-skin much more than the true skin which con- 
cerns us, for it is this outer and ever visible layer 
which is most frequently to blame in unhandsome 
complexions. 

With a becoming sense, therefore, of the weighty 
matters we are about to handle, we shall pass in review 
all the means which are useful in retaining and defend- 
ing against the envious assaults of Time, the clear 
and brilliant complexion of youth, that 

"Beauty truly blent, whose red and white 
Nature's own sweet and cunning hand lays on." 

Nor will our task end here. He is unworthy the 
name of physician, who concerns himself only about 
those who are whole. We shall go further, and turn- 
ing to those whom the old fellow with hour-glass and 
sickle has already worsted, we shall ransack for their 
sakes the magazine of art for means to repair, or if 
repairing is out of the question, then to conceal, the 
damage they have sustained in the conflict of years. 
For if it is well for age to take lessons from the buoy- 
ant spirits and active mind of youth, may it not with 
equal propriety strive for the bright eye and healthful 
glow ? The imitation is not what repels us ; it is the 
failure in the attempt at imitation. 



CONCERNING WASHING. 1^5 

Our instructions commence with a homely theme, 
but an orthodox one. It is cleanliness of the person ; 
in short 

WASHING AND BATHING. 

Baron Liebig says that the progress of nations in 
civilization can be accurately measured by the amount 
of soap they use. If the test were applied, we fear our 
country would make a poor figure. In this city of 
seven hundred thousand bodies there is not a single 
public bath. Even in " good society" (save the mark) 
there is not that attention to scrupulous cleanliness 
which there should be. More than one young lady 
might find a moral in the anecdote told of Lady Mary 
Wortley Montague. When young, this famous woman 
seems to have been a model of candor, if not of neat- 
ness. One day a companion ventured to suggest to 
her that her hands needed washing. 

"My hands!" exclaimed she, "what would you say 
if you saw my feet ?" 

We rarely prophesy. But we confidently pronounce 
one prediction which is worth all those contained in 
the folios of that renowned cosmetic artist, who after- 
wards turned astrologist and prophet, Michael Nostra- 
damus. It is this : — 

The age of beauty will never come until every 
woman takes a bath every day, when she is in health. 

The bath, moreover, must be in water slightty tepid, 



1Y6 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

but not warm, and of waters, one kind is superior to 
all others. 

Here, at last, is the secret of Diana of Poictiers. 

Every morning of her life, that lady bathed in rain- 
water ; " and this it was, I swear by the soul of my 
honored mistress," says master Oudard, her apothe- 
cary-in-chief, surgeon-barber, and perfumer, as he de- 
lights to call himself, " that was the only secret which 
that illustrious dame employed to preserve her health, 
youth, and beauty to the age of threescore and twelve 
years." 

We believe the honest apothecary, for this is distilled 
water, perfectly neutral and pure, fitted beyond any 
other to render the skin clean, odorless, white, soft, 
smooth, and transparent. Let it be preferred to all 
others, for it is better than any of them. When it can- 
not be obtained, soft water will answer, but hard water, 
which contains mineral salts, should be avoided, as it 
cracks and injures the epidermis. Is not such a secret 
worth more than gold, whether soluble or insoluble? 
For beauty is not a thing of price. 

A cold bath does not suit many constitutions, and is 
not advisable for the skin. Still more objectionable is 
one which is hot. The water should be tepid, and in 
using it, one should wet the person sufficiently to loosen 
the scales of the scarf-skin, and then rub the flesh, not 
violently, but gently and for some time, with a coarse 
towel, a soft flesh-brush, or a flesh-mitten not too 



THE STORY OF ANNE BOLEYN. Iff 

rough. A healthy glow should be felt after the rubbing, 
and the skin should be pink and warm. If it seems 
dry and harsh afterwards, an ounce or two of glycerine 
can be put in the water, or a small quantity rubbed in 
with the hand. If, on the contrary, there remains a 
greasy feeling and a shiny appearance on the surface, 
a few teaspoonfuls of spirit of ammonia may be poured 
in the water, or some common yellow soap employed 
daily. It has also been recommended that persons 
with skins of this description should, after drying 
themselves thoroughly, dust the surface with a bag 
containing finely powdered starch and orris-root, three 
parts of the former to one of the latter. 

History saj^s that when Anne Boleyn came to France 
then a young girl, lady of honor to Mary, Queen of 
Louis XII., she was of a "dark and oily" complexion. 
Some one recommended a daily bath, and after the bath 
a powder such as we have described. When a year or 
two afterwards she returned to England, there was not 
a lady at the Court of Henry YIII, who compared with 
her in beauty of complexion, and that king, who was 
a connoisseur in such matters, soon showed that he 
indorsed the general sentiment. It was an unlucky 
success for her, as all the world knows ; but she never 
blamed her beauty for her misfortunes. Quite the con- 
trary, for the story goes that on the day before her 
death she said to her tire-women : — 

" It is high time that the headsman did his work, for 



1^8 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

I have not a grain of powder left, and the king would 
doubtless carry his cruelty to the extent of not allow- 
ing me any more." 

The bath had probably more to do with it than the 
powder, for think a moment what a bath does. Do 
you know why of all parts of the body the face is most 
subject to spots, pimples, and similar eruptions? You 
probably think it is simply the aggravating way of 
matters in general. No such thing. It is because the 
face is washed oftener, the pores are kept open, and 
the circulation stimulated by*the rubbing, so that the 
effete humors in the blood find there a readier exit, 
and consequently crowd thither from all parts of the 
body, giving the skin there too much to do. Wash 
and rub daily all parts of the surface, and the secre- 
tions will be equally distributed, and no one part over- 
tasked. 

Many things have been suggested besides water for 
bathing purposes. There was Prince Jerome Bona- 
parte, who took a bath daily, the spendthrift, in wine, 
and that wine champagne. Even during the fearful 
Prussian campaign he did not intermit, or but a very 
short time, this unheard-of luxury. Whether it had 
anything to do with preserving him to the age of sev- 
enty-six, we do not know. 

The juices of certain fruits, especially raspberries and 
strawberries, have been lauded as sovereign washes for 



BA THING IN MILK. 1*9 

the skin, but this is a vagary of fashion of no practical 
moment. 

Baths of milk merit more serious attention. They 
date back into ancient times, and many a high-born 
dame of Rome and Athens practised her ablutions in 
this nourishing fluid. It was supposed to give the 
skin a peculiar softness and freshness, unequalled by 
any other application. This may be true, for Madame 
de Genlis relates in her Memoirs that on one occasion 
the fancy took her to try this experiment. She sent to 
the neighboring farm-houses, bought up some fifty 
or sixty gallons, and took a royal bath. She describes 
her sensations for hours after as most pleasant and 
exhilarating. 

Another lady of her day, the Princess Borghese, 
afterwards Queen of Naples, was said to indulge regu- 
larly in a milk-bath. So essential did she deem it to 
her comfort, or else to her good looks, that she denied 
herself a visit to the Court of St. James, simply 
because she heard that in England she must forego 
her luxurious habit. 

The custom is not yet extinct in Paris. We were 
told when there that a number of fashionable ladies 
continue it. Knowing that milk sold at fifteen sous a 
litre, or thereabout, we remarked that it must be an 
expensive indulgence. 

"Not very," replied our informant, with the utmost 
coolness, "the milk is afterwards bought up by the 



180 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

second class latteries, and served out to their custom- 



ers, 



» 



After that, we always regarded cafe an lait with a 
suspicious eye. The expense, however, need not deter 
those who would use it for a sponge bath, as two 
quarts amply suffice for this purpose. 

The use of natural mineral waters for ablutions 
must be regarded rather as a means of curing actual 
disease, than of preserving health. They are all infe- 
rior in the latter respect to the water distilled by the 
sun in the alembic of the clouds, which descends to 
the earth in refreshing showers. 

Sea-bathing is now so fashionable in summer, that 
we cannot avoid speaking of it from a cosmetic point 
of view. It is an admirable tonic to the general sys- 
tem, and increases the activity of the circulation and 
secretion in a marked degree. Thus it often materially 
improves the looks. Moreover, one of the most import- 
ant points about it is that at the sea-shore people will 
bathe daily, while at home they wonH. But as an au- 
thor pf reputation remarks, " As an agent for preserv- 
ing the softness and delicacy of the healthy skin, and 
the bright hues of the complexion, it is inferior to the 
tepid bath." Those who live by the sea are often ro- 
bust and comely, but rarely have transparent and fine 
skins. 

The tepid bath means one whose temperature is from 
80° Fahr. to 90°. When taken daily, one should not 



THE TURKISH BA TH. 181 

as a rule remain in it longer than from three to five 
minutes, as otherwise it may become debilitating, but 
once a week the time may be extended to twenty min- 
utes or half an hour, in order to give the whole surface 
a thorough soaking. Soap need not be used oftener 
than- once or twice a week, unless special circumstances 
demand it. After the bath, and always after washing 
the face, exposure to the sun or air, especially a cold, 
damp, raw air, should be avoided for a half hour or 
hour, as such exposure is apt to spot or chap the skin. 

The Turkish bath has been introduced with such a 
loud blow of trumpets within a few years that we must 
perforce speak of it at some length. It is a degene- 
rate offspring of the old Roman bath. That luxurious 
nation had reduced bathing to a system. Establish- 
ments for the purpose were found in every city of the 
Empire, and were of the most splendid and costly con- 
struction. Their plan was as follows : — 

The first room the guest entered was filled with hot 
air. Here he remained long enough to break out in a 
profuse perspiration. Then he was ushered into a 
large apartment, in the centre of which was a basin of 
water, heated to about 100° or 105°. In this he 
soaked, sat, read, and gossiped for a half hour or hour, 
after which he was led to the next room, and plunged 
for a moment into cold, clear water. This sudden 
transition removed the languor left by the previous 
high temperature, and braced the system for exercise. 

16 



182 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

The clothing was resumed in a moderately warmed 
room, the body having been previously anointed with 
fresh olive oil, well rubbed in, to protect it from the 
action of the air. 

The Turkish bath likewise has its hot-air chamber, 
its hot-water bath, and the moderately heated apart- 
ment to dress in ; but in Constantinople, and in many 
establishments in this country, the cold-water douche 
is lacking. This, however, should never be omitted, 
as it is important that the system be thus stimulated 
before going forth into the air. 

The value of the Turkish bath depends on the 
thorough cleansing it gives the system, and on the 
perspiration it excites. Its peculiar feature is the 
shampooing process. An expert attendant kneads, 
rubs, and manipulates every muscle and joint of the 
body, imparting a suppleness and elasticity to the 
system very agreeable and often beneficial. 

For rheumatics, for those affected with chronic skin 
diseases, for many complaints, indeed, this bath is 
admirably suited, and an occasional use of it, sajr once 
in ten days or a fortnight, may benefit one who even 
takes an ordinary bath daily. A more frequent indul- 
gence in health is not advisable. 

The Russian bath is said also to be a descendant of 
old Rome. The. bather remains in an apartment filled 
with either moist or dry air at a very high temperature 
until in a profuse perspiration, and then adjourns to the 



• THE RUSSIAN BATH. 183 

next room, and winds up with a plunge into cold water. 
The peasants, it is said, indulge the national taste in 
this wise: they have enormous clay stoves in which 
they sit until thoroughly sweated, and then, naked as 
they are, rush out of the house and roll in the snow ; 
and this in the midst of a Russian winter, with the 
thermometer ever so far below zero ! 

Our own Indians have always been partial to just 
such a bath. They build a small lodge of skins, heat 
a number of stones, and pile them in the centre, then, 
shutting close the apertures, dash water on the stones 
until the lodge is filled with the hot vapor. After 
they have enjoyed this a while, they start on a full 
run for the nearest brook or pond, and plunge in its 
cool waves. This they look upon as " big medicine," 
and a specific for all diseases under the sun. 

All these methods have the objection that one must 
breathe the hot air into the lungs. A simple and easy 
method of taking a Russian bath on a small scale at 
home, but a method quite as efficient as any other, is 
this : seat yourself unclothed on a cane-bottomed chair, 
under which you place a very hot brick on a plate. 
Wrap a large blanket around you from- the neck down- 
ward, inclosing the chair, and carefully close the 
borders. Pour from time to time a little hot water on 
the brick, and the body will soon be in an atmosphere 
of highly heated vapor. If a dry-air bath is preferred, 
place a spirit lamp under the chair, and arrange the 



184 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

blanket as before. When the perspiration has lasted 
from fifteen to twenty minutes, throw aside the blanket, 
and plunge into a tub already filled with cold water, 
or take a cold shower bath. 

The only warning needed in this procedure — but 
that is an important one — is not- to allow the body to 
become cooled between the hot and the cold stages. 
The transition must be sudden, and the cold dip or 
shower must last but for a second or two, otherwise 
trouble may result. 

The effects of frequent and long-continued tepid 
bathing on the skin is so salutary, that recently Pro- 
fessor Hebra, of Vienna, one of the most celebrated 
physicians of skin diseases now living — probably we 
ought to say the most celebrated — has adopted the 
plan of placing some of his obstinate cases in water up 
to the neck, and leaving them there for several days ! 
That is, they are tied up in a caoutchouc sack through 
which a stream of water is constantly flowing. 

This is not a novel plan in Europe. At the mineral 
springs there, which are celebrated for their virtue in 
skin diseases, the patients enter the bath, which is a 
large basin from fifty to a hundred feet square, filled 
with tepid water to the depth of three feet or so, and 
remain for hours. A few years ago we passed some 
time at the baths of Loueche-les-Bains in Switzerland, 
in the valley of the Upper Rhone. Every day we saw 
from fifty to a hundred guests of both sexes seated on 






SOAP- AND- WA TER. 185 

chairs in the bath, with the water reaching about to 
their armpits. Before them were small tables, on 
which they played cards or chess, wrote letters, laid 
their books or needle-work, or else they waded about 
in groups, talking politics or gossiping. Altogether it 
formed a curious spectacle. We learned that some 
remained in the water six or seven hours a day, and 
the reputation of the springs seems to prove that the 
results of the method are quite satisfactory. 

ON TOILET SOAPS. 

Soap-and-water is the burden of the song of most 
writers on health. We grant the water, but are by no 
means so enthusiastic about the soap. Many a lady 
will find her skin softer, whiter, and healthier, by omit- 
ting it altogether. The reason is the difficulty in ob- 
taining a perfectly "neutral" soap, that is, one that 
contains no excess of alkali, and one that has in it no 
rancid fat globules, injurious oil or coloring matter, or 
irritating foreign substance. 

No one needs to be informed that soaps are made by 
the action of a powerful alkali, caustic soda, or caustic 
potash usually, on fat. The cheapest, and conse- 
quently the almost universal method, is to do this in 
the "cold way," instead of by the old process of boil- 
ing and " salting out." Unfortunately, the cold way 
is one of those "cheap and nasty" methods which Car- 
lyle says are becoming daily more popular with this 
16* 



186 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

degenerate age. All soap made thus contains an ex- 
cess of alkali, and particles of fat not saponified. 
Both these ingredients are harmful to the skin, leaving 
it rough, tender, and apt to pimple. It is much better 
to use no soap at all than one which has these injurious 
qualities. 

Toilet soaps should be prepared from clean, sweet 
tallow or oil by a strong solution of soda, and it is es- 
sential that they be completely deprived of an excess 
of alkali. Their natural color is always a yellow or 
white, and whatever other hue is given them is arti- 
ficially done by the admixture of coloring matter. 

Brown Windsor is colored by caramel or cacao ; 
rose color is produced by cinnabar, green by chrome- 
green, and many of the reds by aniline colors. These 
latter are derived from the distillation of coal oil, and 
some of them, the fashionable coralline for example, 
are exceedingly irritating to the skin of many persons, 
so they should be employed with caution. The dark 
lines in Castile soap are produced by a preparation of 
iron, which is harmless. 

Any desired perfume can be imparted to soaps, and 
so long as this is done by the natural odorous portions 
of the plants, there is no cause of complaint. But 
most of the toilet soaps sold are perfumed by the 
artificial essences derived from fusel oil and petro- 
leum, the effects of which upon a delicate skin are occa- 
sionally acrid and unpleasant. 



MEDICATED SOAPS. ig? 

Transparent soaps, which are quite popular in most 
cities, are made by dissolving well-dried tallow soaps 
in alcohol. Except in appearance, they have no ad- 
vantage over any other kinds. 

Soaps containing sand, pumice-stone, or similar 
gritty substances, need rarely be used in the toilet. If 
something of the kind is desired,, a piece of pumice 
stone itself is quite as good. This is a favorite mate- 
rial in the East, where it is employed by the women to 
polish their nails, and the rough portions of the epi- 
dermis. 

All this tallow-chandlery talk has not resulted in 
our fixing on any particular soap. TVe have, in fact, 
none to recommend. For bathing purposes, a piece of 
good white Castile, or of curd soap is as desirable as 
any. For the hands, a perfumed neutral article may 
be chosen, not red nor blue, nor too odorous. For the 
face, the less soap of any sort that is applied to it, the 
better. 

There are a number of medicated soaps in the market 
stentoriously recommended for curing divers troubles 
of the skin, and preserving it in a state of perennial 
beauty. They are generally secret preparations, and 
when analyzed are found to be the commonest and 
coarsest soda soaps, perfumed, medicated, and done up 
in attractive wrappings. They are dangerous to use, 
and should be shunned. 

Not that we would be understood to decry sweep- 



188 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

ingly the employment of medicated soaps. They are 
admirable aids in treating skin diseases, as we have 
repeatedly experienced, but like any other remedial 
agent, they must be applied with caution, and under 
advice. 

LOTIONS AND WASHES TO BEAUTIFY THE SKIN. 

We are now through this talk about soap and water, 
and can advance directly into the very arcanum of the 
boudoir, and disclose without delay its most subtle 
mysteries. Is there any one, perchance, who would 
care to know a wash that will keep her hands soft, 
white, and smooth ? Is there any belle desirous of 
preserving her complexion, with its pink and white in- 
tact ? Are there any who would remove a shining, not 
to say greasy, appearance of the skin, or a harshness, 
dryness, and inclination to chap and crack ? Let them 
lend an attentive ear, for we are now about to tell how 
these ends can be gained. 

It is no secret among adepts in the chemistry of the 
toilet, that certain substances used continuously in a 
wash have a most excellent effect on the skin, preserv- 
ing its color and health. But all the adepts like to 
keep the secret among themselves, and make a trade 
of their knowledge. We intend to draw the veil from 
these mysteries, and recommend a number of convenient 
and efficient preparations, which can be readily com- 



AN EXCELLENT L O TION. 189 

pounded in the domestic laboratory, and specify when 
they are applicable. 

Thus, a person who has this shiny, polished com- 
plexion, owes it to an unusual secretion of fatty matter 
by the skin. Soap fails to remove it, and it is alto- 
gether better for her to use, instead, a saturated solu- 
tion of borax. Let her wet her face with this, morning 
and evening, allow it to remain on for several minutes, 
then wash in rain or filtered water. The philosophy 
of this is that borax, a mild alkali, unites with the 
minute globules of fat to form a soap, and thus the 
face is both cleansed and freed from its greasy appear- 
ance. 

Such a solution has another delightful result. It 
prevents the tendency to redness which appears obsti- 
nately and annoyingly on the cheeks, nose, and knuckles 
of some persons. For such ordinary purposes the 
following recipe is a model one : — 

Take- 
Powdered borax one half ounce ; 
Pure glycerine one ounce ; 
Camphor water one quart. 

Mix, and use twice a day as directed above. If the 
camphor water is home-made, filtered rain water must 
be used. This lotion is better than any sold in the 
shops for a regular, daily, cosmetic wash. It prevents 
chapped skin, removes sunburn, keeps the pores in fine 
condition, and is cheap. What more is wanted ? We 



190 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

would not exchange a quart of it for a gallon of the 
water of the Queen of Hungary, which, in the last cen- 
tury, was the most famous cosmetic lotion in the 
world. And what was.it ? 

Nothing but tincture of rosemary, made, with the 
best brandy and carefully distilled. 

The most serene queen Donna Isabella of Hungary, 
however, set great store by it. She wrote the receipt 
for it carefully in her Book of Hours, and added this 
note : " I, Isabella, Queen of Hungary, when seventy- 
two years old, gouty and infirm, used a flask of this 
water, and it had such a wondrous effect that I seemed 
to grow young and beautiful. So the King of Poland 
wished to marry me, and I did not refuse him, out of 
love to our Lord, who I doubt not sent me this flask 
by the hands of an angel in the garb of the old hermit 
from whom I had it." 

How many more flasks the old lady used, and how 
many more husbands she felt in conscience obliged to 
accept, we have been unable to ascertain. 

Some of the very best washes for the complexion can 
be made of articles which are in every household. The 
celebrated Mr. Wilson, of London, recommends con- 
stantly in his practice, as of great efficacy in whitening 
and clearing the skin and complexion of that " muddi- 
ness,*' or shade which is so common, lotions of citric 
acid. Now citric acid is simply the acid of lemons, and 



CUCUMBER AS A COSMETIC. 191 

the following preparation, which any one can make in 
a few minutes, answers the purpose quite well : — 

Take- 
Fresh lemon-juice a wineglassful ; 
Eain water a pint ; 
Otto of rosea a few drops. 

Mix, and keep in a well-corked bottle. 

The face and hands may be washed with this several 
times a day, allowing it to remain on three or four 
minutes before wiping. Whenever there are any 
superficial and transient stains on the skin not readily 
removed by soap and water, rubbing the spot with a 
little piece of lemon should be resorted to next, as in 
the majority of cases it will quickly remove them. 

In France they attribute sovereign cosmetic virtue 
to the juice of the cucumber. All the shops keep a 
lait de concombre, or &pommade de concombre. A Ger- 
man physician of considerable experience also recom- 
mends it as an excellent application for preserving the 
clearness of the complexion. The juice should be 
pressed from the fruit, brought to the boiling point 
over a quick fire, cooled rapidly, and securely bottled. 
A tablespoonful of it diluted with twice the quantity 
of water may be applied morning and evening. 

Another contribution of the kitchen garden to the 
boudoir is the horse-radish. This is a more useful 
plant than is generally supposed. The famous botanist 
Linnaeus goes so far as to call it a "divine remedy." 



192 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

If it can make the fair sex simulate a little more closely 
to divinities, we shall not think the phrase amiss. An 
ounce of the fresh root, steeped in a pint of cold but- 
termilk for four hours, yields a wash which is highly 
prized in parts of England for removing sunburn, and 
whitening the skin. The juice pressed out and mixed 
with twice the quantity of vinegar, has also been re- 
commended for the same purpose,, and for removing 
freckles. 

Turning to the apothecary's shelves once more, we 
take down his jar of benzoin. This is a fragrant resin 
which comes to us from the sunny meadows of Sumatra, 
and is redolent with odors of the Spice Islands, and 
the mysterious virtues of tropical balms. Its qualities 
are strange. Mix a little of it with fat, and the latter 
will not become rancid. Some of the tincture, com- 
bined with glycerine, is simply the best application in 
the world for chapped hands, and for those sore and 
cracked nipples which afflict some women so severely 
during nursing. But this apart. We speak of it now 
as a cosmetic. Two ounces of it to a pint of pure al- 
cohol (free from acrid fusel oils and the like) make as 
fine an application as those can ask who wish a white, 
spotless tint, and fragrant aroma. Some of it may be 
used once or twice a day in the manner already men- 
tioned. 

About a tablespoonful should be poured into a small 
tumbler of water. It changes the water to a whitish 



THE BALM OF GILEAD. I93 

fluid, which is known in France as lait virginal, virgin's 
milk, and is highly and justly esteemed. None of the 
cosmetic washes is more agreeable. Some glycerine 
can be added to the water if desired. 

We donbt if benzoin is a whit inferior to the Balm 
of Mecca, or Balm of Gilead, the most famous of all 
the cosmetic applications of the Orient. So precious 
and rare is this that it would be dog-cheap at Constan- 
tinople at its weight in gold. A pound of the best 
quality sells there for about fifteen hundred dollars in 
specie! As for France, England, or America, they 
get nothing but the refuse. 

When Lady Mary Wortley Montague visited Con- 
stantinople early in the last century it was more plen- 
tiful, and as all her lady friends in Paris and London 
besieged her for some, she procured several jars of it. 
On going to bed she rubbed some of it thoroughly on 
her face. The next morning she woke up with her 
cheeks red and swollen, " as if she had a dozen tooth- 
aches." This alarmed her terribly, but in a few days 
the swelling disappeared, and all her friends assured 
her she was vastly improved in looks. She writes, 
however, in her Letters, that she has no notion of un- 
dergoing the ordeal again. 

Indeed, the balsam is said to be used only in very 
minute quantities, and thus applied, may well deserve 
its reputation, for the Bible itself speaks of it under 
17 



194 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

the name of the " Balm of Gilead" as a medicine of 
renown in most ancient times. 

There are only too many persons in our land whose 
complexion is "muddied" by a scrofulous taint in 
their families. They are usually either fair-skinned 
blondes, or sallow brunettes. Both should make it a 
rule to employ daily a wash such as this : — 

Take- 
Iodide of potassium two drachms ; 
Glycerine one ounce ; 
Rain water one pint. 

Mix them, and apply with a soft sponge. 

These are probably enough instructions on this point. 
Not that the list is nearly exhausted. There are many 
other excellent cosmetic washes, but they contain such 
deadly substances as corrosive sublimate, prussic acid, 
and arsenic, not proper to be used except under the 
supervision of a physician, and dangerous to keep on 
the toilet table, where children may reach them. Of 
such powerful poisons are composed many of the 
washes sold in the stores, and they should therefore 
never be ignorantly patronized. Those we have given 
above are,, in most cases, quite as efficient as any, and 
are all innocuous. 

Here we must insert what lawyers call a " proviso" 
concerning their use. Our readers must remember 
that we are all this time speaking of a healthy skin, 
and how to keep it. If the skin is already suffering 



FURTHER HINTS. 195 

from some local disorder, or if its loss of beauty is 
owing to the insidious approach of some general ma- 
lady, then of course these lotions will fail of their 
effect. Hygiene must then give place to Medicine. 

Furthermore, to insure their proper action, not only 
must the precepts about bathing and exercise, which 
we have already given, be observed, but especial at- 
tention must be paid that the bowels and other organs 
perform their functions regularly. Without this is 
looked after, no real improvement can be hoped for 
from any local remedies whatever. The general health 
must always be guarded by every one who aspires to 
prolong the fleeting days of beauty. 

EMULSIONS AND POMADES FOR THE SKIN. 

Some persons who cannot use soap without experi- 
encing unpleasant sensations, substitute for it various 
sorts of emulsions, as they are called, formed chiefly of 
ground seeds and nuts which are rich in oil, for exam- 
ple, almonds, cocoanuts, pistachio nuts, etc. These 
are perfumed to the taste, and can readily be had 
from leading druggists. 

We have already mentioned one of these which can 
be prepared at home — that made of kernels of English 
chestnuts, dried and ground into a fine powder. It is 
quite as good as any. The kernels of bitter-almonds 
may be used also, but they are poisonous, and there- 
fore objectionable. 






196 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

Pomades are chiefly used when the skin is harsh 
or chapped ; the most popular is cold-cream. This 
ought to be made of white wax, pure spermaceti, 
oil of almonds, and rose-water, with various scents. 
Some have doubted whether it can be applied for a 
long time without injury, but the question seems idle. 
Why should any one apply it for a long time ? If it 
does not correct the trouble soon, throw it aside before 
it has time to affect the skin, and try something more 
efficient. Neither it nor any other greasy preparation 
should be allowed to touch the skin after they have 
become in the least rancid or altered, as the acrid sub- 
stances, then present, are certain to mar the softness 
of the complexion. This rule knows no exceptions. 



OTHER MEANS OF IMPROVING THE COMPLEXION. 

The noble dames of ancient Rome, who have never 
been surpassed in luxury, were wont to plaster their 
faces at night with a poultice of bread-crumbs and 
asses' milk, which on being removed in the morning 
left a freshness and whiteness very much prized in their 
day, and we presume identical with that teint mat for 
which the Italian women of the highest class are still 
renowned. 

They also had recourse to more disagreeable means. 
Thin slices of fresh meat, veal preferred, were laid on 
the cheeks and kept there all night. It has been whis*- 
pered to us that in Paris — we always lay such a scene 



A FINE COMPLEXION. 197 

in Paris, you know — there are lionnes who still have 
recourse to this extraordinary procedure to heighten 
their charms. We are obliged to confess that it would 
doubtless be efficient, for the albumen in the flesh 
would soften the epidermis and loosen its scales. But 
who would be willing to go to such an extreme, when 
the object may be attained by cleanlier and more agree- 
able means ? Or who would follow the example of 
Madame Yestris, who, if rumor did not traduce her, 
was wont to cover her cheeks and forehead every night, 
with what butchers call a "leaf" or "flare," from an 
animal freshly killed ? 

PROTECTING THE COMPLEXION — MASKS AND VEILS. 

Sun and air give a ruddy, healthy glow to the face, 
but they also roughen and brown it. They are un- 
friendly to the delicate shades of pink and white, 
which are the pride or the envy of many a belle. 
Therefore from earliest times shields of various sorts 
have been devised. 

In the Orient and in Spanish countries, women of 
the better class rarely go abroad except in thick veils, 
with perhaps apertures cut for the eyes. In Egypt, 
the little girls of eight and ten years will find some old 
rag to conceal their face from a stranger, though they 
leave exposed every inch of the rest of their body. 

The custom arose not so much from marital jealousy 
and rigid discipline, as from coquetiy, and a desire to 

17* 



198 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

guard the complexion against the burning sun and 
scorching winds of those hot climates. The veil in 
our more temperate land serves the same purpose. It 
is an important article of the dress, and should be 
worn assiduously on going out in a damp and raw, or 
hot and dry atmosphere. In winter, the sudden 
change from our furnace-heated houses to the keen out- 
door cold is very trying to the skin, and then especi- 
ally is a thick veil of service. No cook can hope to 
have a good complexion, or a healthy skin, and it is 
because she is constantly exposed to just such changes 
from heat to cold. 

Our ancestors were in this respect more careful than 
we. In the days of the second Charles, and Queen 
Anne, it was no unusual sight to see ladies in the 
London thoroughfares wearing masks or half masks, 
not, as you might suspect, bent on some wild freak, 
but simply for the purpose of protecting their com- 
plexions. In France, the home of coquetry, the usage 
was already ancient. Margaret of Navarre, queen of 
Henry IV., she whose wedding torches were quenched 
in the blood of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, was 
so in love with her mask that she refused to lay it 
aside even at night. This irritated her husband, with 
very good reason, we think, and was the first of a long 
series of "domestic infelicities." Henry was not 
choice in his expressions, and roundly said to her no 
long time after the wedding da}^ : — 



BENEFIT OF MASKING. 199 

" Madam, with that confounded black mask on, you 
look so much like the devil that I am always tempted 
to make the sign of the cross to drive you away." 

Margaret preferred to lose her husband rather than 
her complexion, and, when matters went to the extent 
of suing for a divorce, as they naturally did, Henry 
offered this nocturnal mask as a grave evidence of 
conjugal insubordination. 

We have already remarked, and we repeat the 
warning, that exposure to out-door air immediately 
after washing the hands or face will almost surely 
change the skin more or less into parchment. The 
Romans and Greeks knew this, and took care to pro- 
tect these parts by inunctions of oil ; the ladies of the 
olden time knew it, and covered their faces with their 
loups. If the belles of our own day bore it more con- 
stantly in mind, there would be less demand for the 
artifices by which ruined complexions are concealed. 
Always, therefore, for at least fifteen minutes after 
washing the face, remain in a room moderately lighted 
and moderately warmed. Or if it is necessary to go 
out, wear a veil, and if the air is raw, rub gently on 
the skin a few drops of pure glycerine, or dust it with 
a little rice powder. 

WHAT CLOTHING SHOULD BE WORN NEXT THE SKIN? 

On a previous page we disavowed any intention of 
discussing that profound question, the Philosophy of 



200 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

Clothes, which, according to Mr. Carlyle's favorite 
hero, Herr Teufeldrock, and (dare we add ?) the verdict 
of many a fair one, simply includes most that is im- 
portant in this sublunary sphere. Nevertheless, we 
cannot altogether escape it. It meets us just now in 
considering how best to protect the skin against out- 
side influences, and we must, perforce, give it attention. 

The underclothing — we mean its deepest strata in 
immediate contiguity to the body — has quite as much 
to do with a person's comfort, health, and good looks, 
and consequently with his or her success in life, as 
the outside apparel, public opinion to the contrary 
notwithstanding. It is pertinent, here as elsewhere, to 
look beneath the surface to form our judgment of the 
individual. 

Cleanliness we take for granted. "Foul linen" and 
healthy skin are incompatibles. Falstaff himself, whose 
stomach was not easily turned, could not abide the 
"rank compound of villainous smells" which he suf- 
fered in the buck-basket. No excuse, short of that of 
Queen Isabella, is valid for not changing the under- 
clothing every week. Isabella, daughter of Philip II., 
wife of the Archduke Albert, swore by the Virgin and 
all the saints that until her royal husband should re- 
duce the refractory citizens of Ostend, to which he 
was diligently laying siege, she would not remove a 
stitch of her clothing. 

The stiff-necked burghers proved of doughtier mettle 



A ITORRIBLE PENANCE. 201 

than she had at all anticipated, and it was three good 
years ere her husband could send her word that her 
penance was ended, and that she might put on a clean 
smock with a clear conscience. By that time, and long 
before it, her ruffles and collars had acquired a dingy 
brown hue, which out of compliment to her was at once 
adopted as the court fashion, under the name of Visa- 
beau. 

The first quality demanded in the articles which 
come next the skin is, that they be soft and comfort- 
able. They must not irritate, nor be chilly, nor heat- 
ing. To our mind, one of the most dreadful penances 
of convent life is that mentioned by Victor Hugo in 
Les Miserables. He says that the nuns of a certain 
order are obliged to clothe themselves in harsh woollen 
cloth next the skin. The irritation is so distressing 
that they are not unfrequently thrown by it into a 
fever, and break out in an eruption from head to foot. 

The hermits and ascetics of the Middle Ages were 
wont to wear shirts of horse-hair cloth. The sharp 
ends of the hairs maintained them in that condition of 
constant petty misery deemed so salubrious for the 
soul. The same condition can nowadays be attained 
so easily without this artificial means, that it has fallen 
out of vogue. 

The amount of clothing should be carefully adjusted 
to the temperature. When too scanty, the skin is 



202 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

chilled and is liable to crack ; when too abundant, the 
excessive warmth may cause an eruption and itchiness. 
Cotton, linen, wool, and silk, are the prevailing ma- 
terials employed. Of these, cotton is the cheapest and 
commonest. It is a good conductor of heat, and is 
the best adapted of any of them for warm climates and 
the hot season. Its fibres, however, are coarser and 
rougher than those ot linen, and there are persons so 
sensitive to this slight difference, that they cannot 
wear it. Such must have recourse to linen. 

This is notably less irritating. In dressing painful 
wounds the surgeon always prefers his lint of old linen 
rather than old cotton rags. But it is not a good con- 
ductor, and is therefore less adapted for summer than 
winter, for a warm climate than a cool one. When 
removed from the person a short time, and then re- 
placed, as at bathing, it feels chilly and damp, which 
is much less the case with cotton. 

For cold weather, wool or silk is preferable. Both 
these have one objection. That is, that on the slight- 
est friction they disturb the electricity of the skin, 
cause a determination of blood to the surface, and 
sometimes thus lead to cutaneous eruptions. This 
holds good more particularly against silk, which, in 
point of texture, is much more agreeable than even 
the finest wool, and is also a worse conductor of heat. 
The latter is an advantage in winter. 

Though this is true, we are decidedly of opinion 



ABOUT RED FLANNEL. 203 

that from October to the end of May, in this climate, 
every person who would guard either health or beauty 
must wear an ample undergarment of either silk or 
wool. It may be worn over one of linen if preferred. 
Many will find . it prudent to continue the use of a 
lighter variety, a merino or silk gauze, through the 
summer months also. 

Even the color of the garment next the skin must 
not be overlooked. There is a time-honored notion, 
familiar to every one, that red flannel has some pecu- 
liar virtue about it. The old women recommend it 
for "rheumatiz" and "stiff joints." However well- 
founded this venerable prepossession may have been 
in the good old times when the dye-stuffs were derived 
from vegetable extracts, we regret that we must throw 
discredit on it at present. Many of the reds now em- 
ployed in the arts are obtained from coal-oil and from 
the salts of mercury, both of which contain acrid 
and poisonous principles. "Within a year or two a 
number of cases have been reported, where painful 
cutaneous diseases arose from wearing articles thus 
dyed. 

One young gentleman, mentioned by Dr. Tardieu 
of Paris, who seemed to fancy, with Sir Andrew Ague- 
cheek, that his leg "looked indifferent well in a flame- 
colored stock," sent in haste for his physician the next 
morning after wearing a pair. Precisely so far as the 



204 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

red hose had extended, there was a marked inflamma- 
tion of the skin. 

Any decided color should be rejected. Our recom- 
mendation is to avoid all dyed garments whatever 
next the skin, and if we do yield to the charms of deli- 
cate flesh tints in gloves and stockings, it is with some 
disturbance of our professional conscience. Skin 
gloves, be it remembered, dyed on the outer side, do 
not come within the ban. 

POWDERS TO PROTECT THE SKIN. 

We hardly know whether to call powder a legitimate 
aid to the toilet in health, or not. But, on mature re- 
flection, we venture to do so. Every mother knows 
how essential it is, in the care of infants, to prevent 
chafing and cracking. Many retain this same cuta- 
neous delicacy all their lives, and for such, a good toi- 
let powder is a necessity. 

Its use might with propriety be extended. Many a 
woman would be improved if she were to dust a little 
over the surface after every bath and every ablution. 
Dr. Veron, in his Memoires, tells an incident which 
aptly illustrates its preservative effects. 

" I know a woman," says the old bourgeois de Paris, 
"of some sixty years, whose physiognomy is remarka- 
ble. Her gray hairs betray her age, but there is not 
the least wrinkle upon her face. This woman has told 
me her secret. It is this : All her life she has had re- 



FACE POWDERS. 205 

course to the most frequent ablutions. In the morn- 
ing, in the evening, and whenever chagrin had loosened 
her tears, every few hours she bathed her face, and 
dusted it by throwing over it. a light cloud of rice- 
powder." 

We have already spoken a word in favor of powder 
after ablutions, apropos of Anne Boleyn. It should be 
kept for this purpose in a fine gauze bag, with which 
the surface can be lightly tapped, or the swan's-down 
brush may be chosen. After thus depositing on the 
surface a thin film, all loose particles should be gently 
brushed away. An invisible stratum will then remain, 
protecting the skin from noxious influences. 

But everything depends on having a powder which 
will itself be perfectly innoxious. Here, as elsewhere, 
we shall follow our plan of giving receipts for several 
quite as effective, much cheaper, and by all odds safer 
than many of those whose ingredients are unknown, 
*ind whose only merit is their elegant wrappers. 

For ordinary toilet purposes, none is superior to 
that commonly used in the nursery, which is nothing 
but very finely-powdered starch (that from arrowroot 
is the best), scented with orris-root and essences. 
The rice powder, poudre de riz, mentioned in the ex- 
tract from Dr. Yeron we have just given, is very finely 
ground rice-meal, scented to the taste. 

When there is any chafed surface on the person, in 
the flexures of the joints or elsewhere, one-fourth the 

18 



206 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

quantity of lycopodium can be added to the starch 
powder with great benefit. 

So far as a simple powder is concerned, the one we 
have now given is sufficient, but there is another use 
for which these preparations are demanded, somewhat 
more ambitious. It is to whiten the skin, to lend a 
hue to the surface which nature has withheld, or taken 
back. 

This brings us at once to the second part of our 
subject, that in which we proposed to treat of those 
cosmetic arts, invented to hide the victories which 
Time has already won. Not to waste space in pre- 
fatory remarks, we commence at once with : — 

MEANS FOR WHITENING THE SKIN. 

These are numerous enough to allow considerable 
liberty of choice. That which we are inclined to name 
first as preferable to the others, is powdered French 
chalk. This is, in fact, not chalk at all, but a fine 
variety of soapstone, obtained at Briangon, a small 
village in the French Alps, and therefore known in 
commerce as craie de Briangon. It is very fine, very 
white, and very adhesive. It does not injure the skin 
in the least, and does not lose it color by the secretions 
of the body, nor by exposure to coal-gases, or sun- 
light. 

As the pure Briangon stone is not always to be had, 
we have taken the pains to examine specimens from 



HOW TO SPOIL A COMPLEXION. 20T 

most of the soapstone quarries in the United States, 
and after considerable search we found an article, in 
every way equal to the very best imported. This is 
from the mountain region of North Carolina, and is 
ground and sold for various purposes by a Cincinnati 
firm. TVe have called their attention to its value as a 
cosmetic, and it richly deserves to take the place of 
the long-celebrated craie de Briangon. 

Venetian chalk, so-called, is not a chalk either, but 
talc. It is inferior to the French both in color and 
adhesive power. In order to whiten it, the manufac- 
turer exposes it to a high heat. This improves its 
color, but diminishes its adhesive qualities. 

Another substance, said to be an especial favorite 
in some portions of our country, is finely-powdered, 
light carbonate of magnesia. This is also harmless, 
but is in other respects inferior to the French chalk. 

All these powders have the objection that the hue 
they produce is not a very decided and brilliant one. 
Therefore the cosmetiqueur, with daring hands, has 
invaded the domain of pharmacy, and laying hold of 
some of its most potent and dangerous drugs has car- 
ried them to his shop to sell to the first chance-comer. 
This is unwise, and many a tolerable complexion has 
been wizened into a piece of parchment, many a woman 
has poisoned her constitution, by ignorantly using 
these perilous stuffs. 

TTe do not say that all are injurious. TTe must 



208 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

exercise discrimination. One of the favorite articles, 
the only one which will produce that teint mat, which 
we have previously described, as almost monopolized by 
the noble ladies of Italy, who hardly ever see the sun, 
and which was all the rage at Paris a year or so ago, 
is bismuth. The apothecary sells it under the name 
of "pearl powder,' 7 "pearl white," and * u bismuthine 
cream." Several forms of the onineral are used, but 
most commonly the subnitrate, though the famous 
French cosmetic fard blanc de bismuth, is what chem- 
ists call a subchloride. 

Some physicians have decried this metal in both 
these forms as injurious to the skin and unsafe to the 
general health. There is doubt about this opinion. 
We have given it for months, both internally and ex- 
ternally, without any ill results, and do not feel con- 
vinced that it is more objectionable on the score of 
health than French chalk. It has, indeed, in common 
with all the metallic substances used for this purpose, 
one serious drawback. They are all changed by sul- 
phurous gases into dark gray sulphurets, and as luck 
will have it, our coal fires and gas-pipes are constantly 
ready, whenever opportunity is allowed them, to fill 
the apartment with just such gases. The consequence 
is that on not a few occasions, ladies, who at the outset 
of the evening displayed complexions which made their 
rivals ready to tear their hair with envy, have come to 
grief in the most unexpected manner, and been obliged 



THE AMBITION OF BEAUTY, 209 

to retire in confusion, with their faces of a dirty ash 
color, owing to some stupid servant mismanaging the 
furnace and allowing the gas to escape. 

Another metallic substance, which makes a fine 
white and is quite harmless, and, indeed, if moderately 
used, actually beneficial to the skin, is precipitated 
carbonate of zinc. It is a favorite application in skin 
diseases, and when parts are chafed, or have slight 
eruptions, its use will be found healing as well as 
beautifying. There is no objection to applying it to 
the most delicate portions, such as the edges of the 
eyelids, or the nipples when they are tender. With 
an equal amount of French chalk, it forms a powder 
highly extolled by some excellent authorities. 

If the ambition of beauty had stopped here, we 
should have had no complaint to make. But no ! a 
more decided color is demanded, a more brilliant tint 
than nature herself ever grants. To obtain this, re- 
course is had to those unwholesome metals, lead and 
mercury. These, in the form of carbonate of lead or 
flake white, and the mercurial white precipitate, have 
been, and still are vended for the purpose. They are 
certain to destroy both beauty and health, and the 
woman who uses them may think herself lucky if her 
life too is not imperilled. Moreover, when used, they 
give as we have said a hue so brilliant, that any 
observer can see that it is unnatural. Therefore, from 
a cosmetic as well as a hygienic point of view, they 

18* 



210 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

must be condemned, for the perfection of art is to 
achieve an absolute resemblance to nature at her best, 
not to surpass her, nor fall behind her. 

ROSE-POWDERS AND ROUGE. 

At the very name of rouge we suppose that many 
women — no, we won't say many, but some — will throw 
up their hands in horror. They associate it, innocent 
lambs, only with the bedaubed creatures who pace the 
pavements at night, with Jezebels "who paint them- 
selves," and with actresses who stand before the foot- 
lights, reddened up to the eyes. 

We, who know more intimately this progressive 
land of ours, cannot but smile at such notions. Any 
fashionable apothecary of our great cities can rehearse 
a long list of customers very different from these. 
The occasional use of such artificial coloring is com- 
mon, and such being the case, however much we may 
disapprove of it, persons should know something about 
the materials from which it is prepared, and be placed 
on their guard against dangerous combinations. 

Rose-powders, or flesh-colored powders, are prepared 
from any of the white powders we have mentioned by 
adding to them a little carmine and ochre until the 
desired tint is obtained. The soap-stone powder, thus 
tinged with the purest carmine, yields one of the best 
hues, and is harmless. 



THE SECRET OF RO UGE. 211 

But the most fashionable, popular, and easiest means 
to imitate the glow on the cheek of youth is — rou'ge. 

The word rouge in French simply means red, and is 
applied to a great variety of products having this color. 
That, however, which is put up and sold for the com- 
plexion is generally, and should be always, derived 
from one of two sources : either from cochineal, a small 
bug found on the leaves of the cactus plant in Brazil, 
which yields carmine, or from the familiar plant known 
as "dyer's saffron," or safflower, which furnishes car- 
thamine. The latter is called rouge vegetale. A 
cheap, inferior, and injurious article is prepared from 
vermilion, which is a form of mercury, and should be 
avoided. 

The preparation of rouge is one of the most delicate 
operations in practical chemistry, and hardly any but the 
French have succeeded in producing a first class article. 
There is reason for this beyond mere technical skill, 
as a London manufacturer once learned to his cost. 
He had tried repeatedly to equal the French article, 
and failed just as often. In despair, he visited one of 
the most famous houses of Lyons, and offered the prin- 
cipal thirty thousand francs if he would show him 
their process. The principal accepted, and conducted 
the Englishman through the establishment. What was 
the disappointment of the latter to find the methods 
in every respect identical with his own. He returned 
home, tried again, and failed again. The principal of 



212 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

the Lyons house invited him once more, and put the 
inquiry : — 

" What was the state of the weather when you made 
the experiment ?" 

"The weather !" replied the Englishman, "the 
weather! I don't remember. What has that to do 
with it?" 

"Everything," replied the principal. "It is only on 
the fairest days in this favored climate, that we can 
make our carmine.' ' 

"If that's your secret," said the visitor, "I had bet- 
ter have kept my thirty thousand francs, as it will do 
me little good in the London fogs." 

There are numerous forms in which rouge is applied. 
The simplest is " rose powder," which is merely the 
finest rice meal, tinged with carmine, and perfumed 
with oil of roses, or some other scent. What is called 
" enamel powder" is a mixture of equal parts of bismuth 
(pearl-white) and French chalk (soapstone), colored 
and scented in the same manner. Either of these is 
harmless, for neither carmine nor carthamine has any 
injurious action on the skin. 

When rouge is sold by itself, it comes in shallow pots 
or saucers, rose en tasse^ in pomade, en crepons, or 
en feuilles. The crepons are pieces of silk or cotton 
gauze, twisted into the shape of a plug, and imbued 
with the coloring matter (carthamine.) Some of them 
are mounted on wooden or ivory handles, and are then 



SYMPATHETIC BLUSH. 213 

called tampons au rouge. The manner of using them 
is to moisten them with alcohol, and rub them gently 
on the cheeks or lips. The leaf rouge, rouge en 
feuilles, is a very elegant preparation. It is usually 
prepared by depositing a thin layer of the finest car- 
mine on thick paper. The surface of the paper is to be 
moistened by a woollen rag or soft sponge, and gently 
rubbed on the skin. The effect is altogether satisfac- 
tory. 

It is more prudent to use these preparations than 
those numberless ones sold under attractive names, 
about which nothing is known. One cf these, which 
has a wide popularity, is a solution of carmine in rose- 
water with the addition of strong caustic ammonia, 
which latter cannot fail but injure the skin in time. 
Above all things, beware of cheap rouges, and those 
called " theatre rouges," nearly all of which are coarse 
colors which give a tawdry and meretricious air to the 
user, and besides that are generally made of vermilion. 

There has recently been introduced into the market, 
under the outlandish name of schnouda, and the more 
romantic one of " Sympathetic Blush," a very curious 
coloring for the skin, which is asserted to surpass all 
others in its absolute resemblance to the roseate hue 
of health. What is not the least singular about it is 
that it is perfectly colorless itself, and remains so until 
it has been some minutes on the surface. It is pre- 
pared by mixing with cold-cream a small proportion of 



214 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

alloxan, one of those newly-discovered combinations, 
the source of which we hesitate to explain. This 
undergoes a chemical alteration when brought in con- 
tact with the skin, and produces a strikingly natural 
pink hue. Whether or not it is as innocent as the 
rouges we have described, is as yet unknown. 

When the inventive genius of the boudoir had in 
this manner prepared materials for whitening, and 
again for reddening the skin, it had not yet completed 
its task. There still remained the blue lines of the 
veins, which course beneath the skin, and unless some- 
thing was found to include these in the u make up," 
the art were sadly at fault. 

It has been done. The elegant world can now pro- 
vide itself with little jars which contain finely-powdered 
French or Venetian chalk, made into a paste with gum- 
water, colored to the proper tint with Prussian blue, 
and accompanied with little leather pencils, all manu- 
factured on purpose to portray with anatomical fidelity 
the direction and hue of the veins. The effect, says 
Professor Hirzel, who talks on this subject with the 
gusto of a connoisseur, " when the work is artistically 
performed, is good and natural." 

A WORD ABOUT " ENAMELLING" THE FACE. 

There has been such a noise in the newspapers of 
recent years about " enamelling" the face, that we are 
in duty bound to say a word about it. The most 



ENAMELLING THE FACE. 215 

absurd stories are afloat. One we noticed asserted 
that the late actress, Madame Yestris, was obliged to 
sit " hours' 7 by the fire to allow her " enamel" to dry. 
Another stated that certain New York belles visit 
Paris annually to have their complexions " made up" 
for the year. An enterprising rascal, taking advantage 
of popular credulity, advertises in various papers to 
enamel faces " to last a day or a year." 

Such paragraphs arise from ignorance. The so-called 
method of " enamelling" is simply painting the face, 
and for this purpose the artists always prefer the poi- 
sonous salts of lead, as they yield much more striking 
effects. Practice often gives these persons a decided 
skill in their specialty, but their customers pay for it 
doubly, first in money and then in health. 

The skin is usually prepared by an alkaline wash, 
wrinkles and depressions are filled with a yielding 
paste, and the colors are laid on to the requisite extent, 
first the white and then the red. 

No such procedure can give a durable covering to 
the face, and no one should submit herself to the 
hands of the ignorant and unscrupulous parties who 
choose this for a business. The simple and harmless 
means which we have explained will suffice, if skilfully 
used, to conceal the ravages of years to any proper 
extent. 



216 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

PATCHES — AN HISTORICAL REMINISCENCE. 

Antiquaries have puzzled themselves to explain the 
origin of patches. They could not understand why a 
woman with brilliant complexion would, as they 
thought, disfigure herself with little pieces of black 
plaster on her face. They did not remember, these 
simple antiquaries, that if we wish to set off in bold 
relief a white object, we place it on a black ground. It 
was not imitation of some noble dame who concealed a 
pimple with a plaster, but a coquetry founded on the 
law of contrasting colors, which introduced patches. 
Like other fashions, they 

" Come, and pass, and turn again." 

Hints of them are scattered in classical lore, Anglo- 
Saxon monks saw their revival, and the gossipy Pepys 
witnessed their introduction at the Court of Charles 
II., and though he found it difficult, at first, to partake 
of Mrs. Pepys' enthusiasm for them, in a few months 
we find him not only reconciled to the novelty, but 
quite warm in its praise. A century later, Le Camus 
defines at length, with curious criticism, the varying 
expressions which the patch worn in different parts of 
the face gives to the wearer. He tells us that in his i 
day they were diverse in figure, crescents, stars, crosses, | 
etc. 

Another century has gone by, and once more the I 
patch seems to be coming into favor. The newspapers 



SPOTS ON THE SKIN. 21? 

have started a violent opposition to it, and may check 
or suppress it. But after all, the fashion is a harmless 
one, and is not irrational. As we have said, it is 
founded on acknowledged laws of taste, and nothing 
from a hygienic point of view is to be urged against it. 
We do not plead for it, but what ground is there for a 
philippic against it? 

DISCOLORATIONS OF THE SKIN. 

Leaving these cosmetic arts, which we may call the 
"tricks of the trade," we pass on to cosmetic science, 
which occupies itself with the nobler study of remedy- 
ing and removing those defects which the arts only 
seek to conceal. 

An important branch of it is that which treats of the 
various discolorations of the skin, all of which detract 
more or less from beauty. They are well nigh as nu- 
merous as the colors of the spectrum, and are of very 
diverse origin. It may be said of them as Malvolio 
says of greatness : " Some are born great, some achieve 
greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." 
So some of these beauty-blemishes are born with per- 
sons, others are acquired by want of care, and others 
are forced upon the most careful. 

Some of them are peculiar to certain periods of life 
and physical conditions. Brown patches not unfre- 
quently arise during pregnancy, and disappear after 
confinement. A red flush, temporary in character, oc- 

19 



218 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

casionally marks the change of life. Pallor and slight 
blueness are sometimes recurrent with the periodical 
illness. Such discolorations cannot be amended, and 
the best that can be done is to conceal them when so- 
cial life requires it. 

Another large class are characteristic of disease, 
and can only be removed by a judiciously regulated 
and often protracted course of treatment. Here the 
family physician should be called in, who, if he is a 
wise man, will not depreciate the importance of even 
so small a sign as an altered complexion, for this is 
sometimes the only sign and forerunner of serious 
maladies. 

" The green sickness," so common in young girls, 
derives its name from the peculiar greenish hue of 
the complexion. Another not less familiar complaint 
is jaundice, in which the skin takes on a sickly yellow. 
In a less degree, this same tint is frequently perceptible 
in persons who are " bilious,' ' or who suffer from dys- 
pepsia. A light bluish hue, most strongly marked on 
the lips, often betrays disease or defective action of 
the heart, the seat of life. A lead-colored tinge points 
to disease of the spleen. 

There is a rare complaint named after Dr, Addison, 
who first explained it, in which the whole surface of 
the body gradually changes to a tawny brown or 
mahogany color ; and another, not so rare, which in- 
deed is not infrequent, where dark red spots appear in 



A BOON OF VENUS. 219 

great numbers under the skin, and hence it is called 
in medical Latin purpura, the purples. 

In any of these maladies, it is worse than useless for 
persons without medical education to undertake their 
own cases. We mention them as those in which we 
shall not suggest home treatment. They demand the 
services of the professional healer, and are beyond the 
reach of cosmetic art. Life itself is threatened. But 
there are many smaller troubles which imperil the 
charms, for which every woman can be her own pre- 
scriber, and these we shall proceed to inform her 
about. 

EXCESSIVE WHITENESS OR PALENESS OF THE SKIN. 

A white skin is a boon of Yenus, but pallor we asso- 
ciate with sickness and debility, which are nowise 
akin to personal beauty. It is just as easy for the 
skin to be too white, as too red or too brown. 

Some are troubled with this paleness from childhood, 
in others it results from failing health. In both 
cases the blood is at fault. It demands more carbon 
to form pigment, more iron wherewith to fabricate in 
nature's wondrous laboratory, the roses that bloom in 
the cheeks of beauty. For, strange as it may seem, it 
is these familiar and homely substances, charcoal and 
iron, which the magic wand of Nature transforms 
into delicate d}^es, and spreads out on the satin skin 



220 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

of the brunette, or mixes in the crimson current to 
produce the mantling blush, the ruby lip, and the — 

" Streaks of red that mingle there, 

Such as are on a Catherine pear, 

The side that 's next the sun." 

But it is not enough to adopt such a diet, or to 
commence a course of such medicines as shall introduce 
into the system these indispensable materials in the 
form best adapted to be readily taken up by the blood. 
This is, indeed, essential, but, beyond this, the surface 
of the body must be stimulated by regular and pro- 
longed frictions. 

We all know that if we rub a part it will soon be- 
come red. This is because the minute bloodvessels in 
the true skin are brought into increased activity, and 
carry a larger amount of the crimson fluid. Let them fre- 
quently be so excited, and this habit will become their 
nature, and a permanent florid hue will result. There 
is no need to explain with what advantage we can apply 
what we learn from this simple fact to the improvement 
of the looks, nor to dilate on the value of friction when 
it is so readily perceived. 

Still another step must be taken, and this for most 
people the hardest of all. Professor MaxMuller, the 
philologist, has a favorite theory that the degenera- 
tion of languages is owing to the universal laziness 
of the human race. People are too indolent to pro- 
nounce the whole of a word or phrase, so they clip it to 



THE LAZINESS OF MANKIND. 221 

the briefest dimensions ; as, for example, when in con- 
versation we catch ourselves saying, " I'd 'a bought 
it," for " I would have bought it." So, in another 
sphere, physicians notice that if a medicine is pre- 
scribed, it is gulped with alacrity ; if a diet is ordered, 
it is observed with no inordinate grumbling; but when 
it comes to exercise, regular, vigorous, daily exercise, 
it is the hardest task in the world to persuade any 
body to take it. 

Yet it is this which is so essential to increase the ra- 
pidity and volume of the circulation, to aid the digestion, 
to give roundness to the form, and to dash the blood 
in rapid and ruddy waves, seventy, eighty, ninety a 
minute, all over the body. If the local circulation of 
the skin is increased by friction, so must the general 
circulation be improved by regular exercise. 

Let us sum up in a few words the prescription for 
those who, without suffering from any disease, are yet 
disfigured by a colorless skin, pale lips, and a general 
want of red blood : A diet, or dose, or both, well 
supplied with carbon and iron, a lukewarm bath (75° 
to 85°) every morning, followed by thorough friction 
with a rough towel, active exercise in the sun and air, 
and the avoidance of alkaline and astringent soaps and 
washes. 

" But the diet — what diet do you mean ? How are 
we to eat charcoal and iron — dirty things ?" 

Not, certainly, in the shape of soot or spikes, but as 
19* 



222 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

palatably done up by that apothecary-in-chief, Organic 
Nature, in familiar articles of food. 

As for the iron, if any one would make a first-class 
ferruginous tonic, he cannot do better than take a 
gallon of hard cider, and throw into it a couple of hand- 
fuls of the scales, which the brawny arm of the black- 
smith scatters from his red-hot bars in starry showers. 
A small wineglassful of this before each meal will work 
wonders. 

Besides the friction we have mentioned as a stimu- 
lant to the skin, and which is not well borne by every 
one, there is another resource — electricity. The use 
of this agent in medicine is becoming more and more 
extended every year, and in its different forms, its 
value as a cosmetic is very great. One of the simplest 
means of applying it is to wear silk next the skin. As 
we have already said, any friction then disturbs the 
electrical condition of the skin, and produces a flush. 
If the battery is used, brushes made for the purpose 
are passed rapidly over the surface, causing a not un- 
pleasant tickling sensation, and bringing the blood to 
the minute vessels with marked force. That method 
which is called "general electrization," is especially 
applicable to cases such as we have been describing. 

General paleness, we have said, is hardly a disease, 
as many persons have it all thfcir lives, and seem to 
enjoy good health. But when a limited portion of the 
skin becomes much whiter than the rest, and especially 



A DEAD WHITE. 223 

when it is a dull or a glossy white, then there is some 
actual mischief going on. Such spots not unfrequently 
occur on the hands and face, remaining stationary for 
years, and giving no uneasiness except what is mental. 
They are allied to that singular bleaching of color 
which makes " albinoes" in the colored races. Every- 
one who has seen many negroes has observed some 
with these white spots on them. They arise from a 
want of coloring matter in the skin, and are not easily 
effaced. What is needed, is to stimulate the little cells 
beneath the epidermis to take up the coloring matter 
in the blood, as is their duty. To accomplish this, 
thorough and repeated electrization is one of the best 
agents. Or the spots may be frequently rubbed with 
a tincture prepared by pouring spirits of camphor on 
red peppers. Or, this failing, a small quantity of the 
following ointment, highly extolled by a distinguished 
French surgeon, may be rubbed in three times a day: — 

Tak 

Tannic acid two scruples ; 

Fresh lard one ounce ; 

Otto of roses two drops. 

Mix, and see that it is preserved from rancidity. 

Leprosy is a disease of terrible renown which is 
characterized by a dead-white skin. The leper is still 
a dreaded object, banished from the family and shunned 
in the street, in Oriental countries. The disease is 
contagious, and next to incurable. Even a shake of the 



224 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

hand is enough to convey it. If it were more prevalent 
in this country, we would adduce this as another reason 
why this nuisance of promiscuous hand-shaking should 
be suppressed. Fortunately, it is extremely uncommon, 
and when met with is apparently not communicable. 

The disfigurement is, however, permanent and dis- 
tinct. In the instance of one young married lady, with 
whom we were acquainted, the excessive whiteness was 
modified by long-continued small doses of nitrate of 
silver, which gives the skin a bluish or violet tint, not 
desirable, indeed, but in her opinion preferable to the 
leprous chalkiness. 

This effect of nitrate of silver or lunar caustic, as it 
is familiarly termed, is certain to follow its long-con- 
tinued use. But as its consideration does not come 
under the present heading, we must commence a new 
section under the title 

DISCOLORATIONS FROM NITRATE OF SILVER. 

When these result from merely handling a stick or 
a solution of lunar caustic, they should be washed in a 
solution of iodide of potassium, which will change 
them from a brown to a dead white, and then removed 
by a solution of ammonia (spirits of hartshorn). 

But when, as just mentioned, the whole body has a 
violet or blue tinge, the question is more serious. Un- 
fortunately, some years ago, the nitrate obtained quite 
a reputation for curing epilepsy, and though it rarel} r 



THE STUPID SUN. 225 

answered the expectations of -physicians and patients, 
it was administered and continued for a long time in a 
large number of cases. Moreover, most of the hair 
dyes which are vended for imparting a "glossy black," 
or a "lustrous brown," contain this powerful ingredient 
in considerable quantities, and several cases are on 
record where ladies, who freely used such nostrums, fin- 
ished by obtaining the coveted color not only on their 
hair, but on the whole body. From these causes, there 
are many persons living who carry on their hands and 
faces the lasting imprint of this drug. 

This is as much as saying that any ready means of 
removal is not known. Such, in fact, is the case, but 
still there are instances on record where a successful 
result is asserted to have been obtained by a persevering 
use of dilute nitric acid internally, and frequent ablu- 
tions in water containing iodide of potassium. 

SUNBURN, TAN, AND FRECKLES. 

The sun is no friend of a dainty visage. The belles 
of yore knew this, and jealously guarded their charms 
from its rays, lest they should become, like Cleopatra, 

" With Phoebus' amorous pinches, black." 

"The stupid sun;" said a great lady of the days of 
le Grande Monarque, "all it does is to spoil beauty 
and show ugliness!" 

Now-a-days, we are content to parry its attacks with 



226 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

parasols, veils, and "sundowns." These are sufficient 
in our more active lives, and we may well dispense 
with the masks, the closed and darkened carriages, and 
the sombre rooms, in which those pampered dames in- 
dulged. Then, too, perhaps we have means to remove 
the traces of exposure more rapidly than they. 

Sunburn, no one needs to be informed, is the redness 
which remains on the skin after exposure to high heat. 
The skin peels off, and the surface is hot, inflamed, 
and tender. It may be produced by the sun, or the 
same effect may follow sitting too near a hot fire, or 
from bending over a brazier or a stove. Those who 
cherish a delicate complexion should never sit too near 
the fire or the flue. When the exposure is only occa- 
sional, we can readily remove it, but when frequently 
repeated, it is extremely intractable. For an occa- 
sional sunburn, the following pomade is really good. 
It may be applied at night after washing the skin, and 
be allowed to remain until morning. It not only less- 
ens the redness, but soothes the burning, dry, and irri- 
tated feeling of the skin : — 

Take- 
Spermaceti • two ounces ; 
Oil of almond two ounces ; 
Honey one teaspoonful ; 
Otto of roses (or any scent) a few drops. 

Melt the spermaceti in a pipkin, then add the oil of 
almonds, and when they are thoroughly mixed, stir in 



TAN AND FRECKLES. 227 

the honey. Take the pipkin off the fire, and stir con- 
stantly until it is cool, adding the scent. 

Another most excellent preparation for the same 
purpose, which contains a portion of that valuable 
cosmetic, gum benzoin, is what is known in pharmacy 
as the benzoinated oxide of zinc ointment, with the 
addition of two drachms of strong spirits of camphor 
to the ounce. It should be applied in the same manner 
as the last. One or the other of these will often by a 
single application relieve the disagreeable sensation, 
and after a few nights disperse the disfiguring redness. 
When neither is at hand, the face should be smeared 
with cold cream — not the artificial but the natural 
article — on retiring to bed. It often answers *very 
well. 

Some persons burn red much easier than others, and 
it is popularly regarded and with justice, as a sign of 
good health. The same difference in individuals is 
observable in tan. This is the brown discoloration 
rapidly produced on some skins by the solar rays. 
Here as elsewhere, the dark hue is owing to a minute 
layer of carbon which is deposited on the under sur- 
face of the epidermis. There are many recipes given 
for removing tan. Washing the hands frequently in 
buttermilk is a domestic suggestion, which proves 
satisfactory after a day or two. Or vinegar in which 
fresh-grated horse-radish has been soaked, may be 



228 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

rubbed over the skin. Lemon-juice, too, has its advo- 
cates. 

A quicker procedure is to dissolve magnesia in clean 
rain water, beat it to a thick mass, spread it on the 
face, and let it remain for two or three minutes. Then 
wash it off with Castile soap and tepid soft water, and 
rinse thoroughly. 

A thin plaster spread with tartaric acid also acts 
efficiently and promptly. 

The solutions of corrosive sublimate, and other pow- 
erful agents, used by some persons are altogether too 
dangerous to form part of a lady's toilet washes 
under ordinary circumstances. They may fall into the 
hands of children, and destroy their lives. Moreover, 
while their cosmetic value is indisputable when judi- 
ciously employed, we have known some cases where 
extremely weak solutions — much milder than ordina- 
rily used — have caused violent and painful eruptions. 
We leave them then among those agents only to be 
employed under the eye of the physician. 

Freckles are likewise the marks of Apollo's kisses. 
Many a fine skin is spotted over with them on the first 
exposure to the winds of March, and its vernal sun. 
They remain during the summer, and nearly or quite 
disappear in winter. Others have them all the year. 
They, too, are deposits of carbon beneath the scarf- 
skin. Place some blistering fluid over one, and the 
scarf-skin will come away, and the freckle with it. 



APOLLO'S KISSES. 229 

This is a severe method of treating them. It is paying 
dear for one's good looks. In fact, as one might sup- 
pose from the number of persons disfigured with them, 
it is by no means easy to suggest an effectual remedy 
for freckles. Nearly all the means which are proposed 
in the books are powerful caustics, which destroy the 
scarf-skin. They succeed for a time, but with the 
return of the epidermis the freckle returns also. 

A simple, harmless, and occasionally quite successful 
wash is a saturated solution of borax in rose-water. 
It should be applied five or six times a day, and al- 
lowed to dry upon the skin. 

The following formula enjoys some celebrity, and 
can readily be compounded at home : — 

Take- 
Best English mustard in 

powder a tablespoonful ; 

Lemon juice enough to make a thick paste ; 

Oil of almonds a teaspoonful. 

Mix them well, and apply, spread in a thin plaster, night 
and morning until the skin smarts. * After a few days, 
the scarf-skin should loosen and the freckles disappear. 
After they have gone, the surface should be washed 
several times daily with a solution of borax. 

After the skin has been softened by some almond 
paste, or a light poultice, lemon-juice will sometimes 
be successful in removing freckles. A freshly-cut 
lemon may be rubbed on the spot. 
20 



230 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

Dr. Savignac recommends strongly lotions of Vichy- 
water, night and morning, continued for several min- 
utes, and allowed to dry without wiping. This can 
certainly do no harm. 

LIVER-SPOTS AND MOLES. 

An ugly brown patch with distinct outlines some- 
times appears on the face, and especially the forehead, 
at or just below the line of the hair. This is called in 
common language a "liver-spot." Writers on skin 
diseases give it a dozen names, so it is useless to men- 
tion any of them. 

These blotches differ in size, shape, and position, but 
have an aggravating similarity in being all very 
ruinous to beauty, and very obstinate in remaining. 
We have seen them much more frequently in the Mis- 
sissippi valley than in the Atlantic States, and have 
been told by others of experience that the ladies of 
Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, are more liable to 
them than those of JSTew York and Boston. It maybe 
that the greater dryness of the interior has something 
to do with this, if it be true. 

Though called " liver-spots," they have not always 
to do with the liver. They rarely show the yellow 
tinge which characterizes the deposits of bile. Very 
frequently, however, they arise from some derange- 
ment of this or some other organ, and it is useless to 
attempt their removal until this derangement is set 



LIVER-SPOTS. 231 

aside. Either it is the liver that is torpid, enlarged, 
or diseased, or there is dyspepsia, or some malady or 
irregularity peculiar to women, or, what is perhaps as 
common a cause as any, there are internal piles. 

Nothing local need be attempted until the general 
health is thoroughly cared for. Then, with a fair pros- 
pect of success, we may proceed to treat the spot itself. 
This is to be done in the following manner : Rub the 
whole of the spot, but none of the skin beyond its 
border, at night with this pomatum : — 

Elder-flower ointment one ounce ; 
Sulphate of zinc t twenty grains. 

Leave it on till morning, then wash it away with white 
Castile soap and soft water, and bathe the part repeat- 
edly with the following lotion : — 

Citric. acid thirty grains ; 

Infusion of roses half a pint. 

After the spot has disappeared, which, if the treatment 
succeeds, will be within a fortnight, the borax and 
glycerine, or the iodide of potash lotion, should be 
regularly used, so as to prevent its return. 

This is as efficacious a treatment for liver-spots as 
can be carried out by a person not familiar with drugs. 
There is another, in which a strong mercurial and resin 
plaster is laid on the spot at night, and oxymel of 
squills rubbed in during the day, which has been 
praised by many as of certain effect (the health being 



232 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

good) within eight days. But this is a somewhat 
severe procedure, and would not do to recommend for 
domestic practice. 

Washes of chlorine and chloride of lime, which are 
often suggested for these discolorations, should be 
employed cautiously. Even when they do disperse 
the coloring matter, they nearly always leave the skin 
of a grajdsh cast, and seamed with fine wrinkles. 

It is only rarely that after any of these " heroic" 
remedies, as physicians call them, those, we mean, 
which act violently on the epidermis, the patient can 
hope for a transparent and handsome skin. The 
"brownness disappears, but a whiteness takes its place, 
owing to a thickening of the scarf-skin. This is not 
very noticeable, and is in every respect to be preferred 
to the blotch, but the fact that such will generally be 
the result of even the most judicious treatment may as 
well be known at the outset. 

The brown spots called moles are usually brought 
with us from birth. They deserve no attention except 
where they are on some conspicuous portion of the 
body, and thus interfere with comeliness. Some of 
them are on a level with the neighboring healthy skin, 
others slightly prominent, and both varieties are apt to 
be studded with long, coarse hairs. In former ages, 
when patches were in vogue, they could readily be con- 
cealed, or cherished as a natural patch, a "beauty 
spot," as they are still sometimes called. Now that w r e 



AN IMPORTANT SECTION. 233 

cannot utilize them in this way, it is best to remove 
them entirely. If they are small, this can promptly be 
done by a surgeon with caustic or the knife, but if 
large, they must be treated in the same manner as 
other "mothers' marks," as we shall now proceed to 
explain. 

mothers' marks. 

Some of these, such as the absence of members and 
deformities, do not come under our present considera- 
tion. We shall speak only of those which are upon 
the skin, usually coloring it a bright red, a brown, or 
a purple. It has been estimated that one person in 
each thousand has some spot of this nature on the 
parts of the body usually exposed. They are known 
as strawberry, cherry, or raspberry marks, and are 
caused by an enlargement of the minute bloodvessels 
in the derma, or true skin. 

To remove them, we must destroy these minute vessels, 
or cause them to shrivel and diminish to their natural 
size. In some few cases, this can be done by tying 
the artery which supplies them with blood. Generally 
this is impossible. Again, there are certain substances 
which are supposed to act specifically on the cutaneous 
veins, paralyzing and constricting them. One of these 
is ergot, another, one of the preparations of bismuth. 
The scarf-skin can be removed by a blister, and plasters 
20* 



234 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

containing these substances applied. This is painful 
and only succeeds in mild cases. 

Many years ago two French surgeons, MM. Lepeyre 
and Lecomte, observed that the rays of the sun, con- 
centrated by a lens or burning-glass, exert a peculiar 
and propitious effect on certain cutaneous diseases. 
The chemical properties of sunlight, they thought, must 
have something to do with this, and they called the 
attention of the profession to their observations. Like 
many other useful discoveries, however, the process was 
suffered to lapse almost into forgetfulness. Within 
the past few years it has been revived, chiefly by the 
exertions of a person not a member of the profession, 
and even more has been claimed for it than it is right- 
fully entitled to.- 

There is no doubt but that it is the most efficacious 
means yet devised to destroy these red birth-marks, 
but it requires no little practice and judgment to ob- 
tain favorable results. The heat must be so adjusted as 
to shrivel the vessels in the true skin without destroying 
the skin itself, as otherwise a scar will result. We have 
employed these glasses in several instances, and are 
convinced that they are a most important addition to 
our means to combat these trying disfigurements. 

INDIA-INK OR TATTOO MARKS. 

Girls are wiser than boys. 

If we want a proof of it, see how many urchins mar 



THE STORY OF BERNADOTTE. 235 

their hands and arms for life, by pricking into the 
skin some design with India-ink, or with gunpowder 
dissolved in water. It can never be erased, and 
though in after years they would not grudge a purse 
of broad pieces to have this brand wiped away, it can- 
not be done. 

Were it with some yellow, red, or green dye, it 
might be neutralized by introducing a decolorizing 
substance, but with India ink, gunpowder, carbon — 
never. 

We heard of one unfortunate lad, whose companions 
in jest seized him and tattooed a star on the end of 
his nose ! What an affliction it must have been to him 
all his life ! 

Girls are too sensible to indulge in such improper 
freaks. Perhaps not one in a million, be she ever so 
wild and thoughtless, would thus go to work to spoil 
her beauty. Sailors and soldiers, on the other hand, 
delight in covering their skin with these ineffaceable 
emblems. Some inscribe their names, others the 
emblems of their business, or the face of their lady-love. 
Many a one lives to regret it. 

When Jules Bernadotte, son of a provincial attorney 
at Pau, was sergeant-major in the French revolution, 
he was a radical republican. He then pricked into 
the back of his hand the emblems of the French Re- 
public, which was to be immortal. But when the 
Republic was ingloriously defunct, and Jules Berna- 



236 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

dotte was no longer sergeant-major, but was Charles 
XIY., King of Sweden, the republican emblems on his 
hand were beyond all expression annoying, and mal 
apropos. If a man ever wished to rid himself of such 
a brand, Bernadotte did. As he was rich, powerful, 
and a king, he succeeded. The same method, we are 
glad to add, can be applied to one who is neither of 
these. We shall relate it. 

An ingenious surgeon hit upon the following device. 
He took one of those metallic blanches we have spoken 
of in the section on whitening the skin, moistened it 
to a half liquid, and tinged it with fine rouge to the 
exact color of the skin. This he spread in a thin film, 
very exactly and evenly over the tattoo marks, and 
then taking an instrument formed of several fine 
needles, pricked the skin, so as to allow the paste to 
enter, and form a layer above the carbon. This an- 
swered the purpose completely, and the last emblem 
of the republic disappeared from Sweden. As we have 
said, this process can be repeated with uniform success, 
and it is the only process which holds out any prospect 
of concealing such marks. It can also be extended to 
certain varieties of birth-marks, discolored scars, and 
stains from explosions of gunpowder. Occasionally 
it may wear, and require to be repeated after some 
years, but this is no serious matter. 



AN ANECDOTE OF A WIT 231 

REDNESS OF THE SKIN. 

Poor Bardolph suffered many a fling from fat Fal- 
staff for his red face and fiery nose, which Sir John 
averred had saved him a thousand marks in links and 
torches, walking in the night twixt tavern and tavern. 
Not many, who are afflicted with this permanent and 
mortifying redness of the skin, can bear it as philosophi- 
cally as Bardolph did, though they have it from a far 
more innocent cause. 

Some persons suffer with it particularly in the nose, 
a situation that gives rise to unpleasant suspicions. 

"Where could I have gotten this nose?" exclaimed 
Madame d'Albret once, in the presence of Matta, a wit 
of the Court of Louis XIY., a tendency to flushing 
being visible in that feature. 

"At the sideboard, madam," was the prompt sug- 
gestion of the wit. 

Not only the face, but the hands too, are liable to be- 
come suffused with a lasting flush, and not from any in- 
clination to sack and sugar either, though an uncharita- 
ble world is ever ready to lend an ear to such a whisper. 

Sometimes, as we have remarked, it comes from long 
exposure to heat, as in cooks, and those much in the 
sun. More frequently it is a debility of the minute 
vessels in the skin. Their coats become relaxed, and 
allow the blood to accumulate in their meshes. The 
treatment is therefore twofold. The debility must be 



238 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

removed by gentle friction, cold bathing, tonics of iron 
and bark, ergotin, and similar drugs, while the vessels 
are stimulated by astringent washes, such as the fol- 
lowing: — 

Take— 

Tannic acid fifteen grains ; 

Camphor water five ounces. 

Dissolve, and use several times a day, letting it dry on 
the surface. 

Simple spirits of camphor is another suitable lotion 
when the redness is not decided. But when it is gone 
to the extent that on closely examining the skin fine 
red veins are perceptible, traversing it in various direc- 
tions, then the case demands more active remedies, 
which can only be properly administered by a physician. 

ARSENIC-EATING, AND SECRET WASHES. 

Within a few months we have noted three deaths at- 
tributed by the newspapers to eating arsenic in order 
to improve the complexion. The fact that such a cus- 
tom has been widely prevalent for years is no secret to 
most physicians. There is a preparation largely sold 
by the shops under the attractive name poudre rajeu- 
nissante, the active principle of which is simply arsenic, 
or "ratsbane," as the old folks call it. The custom 
has been immemorial in the Austrian Alps. The 
peasants commence taking a small portion of hidri, as 
they term it, an arsenical compound, four or five times 



THE A RSENIC EA TERS. 239 

a week, when they are about eighteen or twenty years 
of age, and continue the habit, gradually increasing 
the quantity but not the frequency of the dose, as long 
as they live. Elderly people take as much as four 
grains at a time. 

It does not seem to shorten their lives, or undermine 
their strength. On the contrary, they are, as we can 
say from personal observation, a handsome, sturdy, 
long-winded, and long-lived set. But the habit once 
commenced, it is said that it cannot with safety be dis- 
continued, as either symptoms of poisoning or else 
some fatal disease soon carries the victim off. 

The value of this potent drug in treating diseases 
and discolorations of the skin cannot be over-estimated. 
But the propriety of using it constantly for its cos- 
metic effects is, in spite of the example just quoted, 
open to very grave objections. 

In the first place, there are constitutions on which it 
has, even in the minutest doses, a violently irritating 
effect. Again, if once commenced it may become un- 
safe to discontinue it, and who would wish to be tied 
down to this unnatural diet all their lives ? There are 
other reasons not less weighty. Within the last score 
of years, since wall-papers colored with arsenical dyes 
(especially green paper) have come into vogue, physi- 
cians have been obliged to treat a number of persons 
poisoned by the minute amounts of arsenic floating in 
the atmosphere of rooms thus papered. Such being 



240 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

the case, it is altogether likely that a woman who is an 
arsenic-eater exhales from her person a sufficient 
amount of the poison to render her most undesirable 
for a wife, unless she occupies a separate apartment. 
Otherwise, she may share the fate of the damsel Sara, 
mentioned in the Apocrypha, the heroine of the book 
of Tobit, who had had seven husbands, all of whom 
were destroyed on the marriage night by an evil spirit. 
For the emanations from her body will certainly carry 
with them minute particles of the poisonous metal. 
The only reason that this is not the fate of the 
Styrian and Tyrolese damsels is, that with them lover 
and lady are both accustomed to use the drug. Like 
Mithridates, they have by long habit rendered them- 
selves poison-proof. 

It is somewhat singular that the drugs which at 
present are most in renown as cosmetics for the skin, 
are precisely the most deadly poisons known in the 
whole catalogue of chemical products. They are arse- 
nic, prussic acid, corrosive sublimate, and caustic 
potash. As there are always dealers unscrupulous 
enough to sacrifice their own consciences (if they keep 
the article) and their customers' lives by selling, under 
sounding names, these perilous stuffs, we urgently warn 
all persons to be exceedingly cautious in making such 
purchases. 



AN OBSOLETE THEORY. 241 

ERUPTIONS OF THE SKIN. 

Most skin diseases are characterized, and indeed 
classified in books, by an eruption or breaking-out on 
the surface. These affections are so numerous, and 
often so difficult to distinguish apart, that it is out of 
the question for us to do more than glance at some 
which are common, and readily recognized. It would 
seem as if nature had designed to dash the pride of 
beauty by imposing on the skin of woman a greater 
liability to such defects. Or if you wish a less recon- 
dite cause, it is because, as a rule, she has a thinner, 
finer, and more sensitive skin. 

She is unusually subject to such disorders at what 
are called in scientific language her " climacteric 
periods," that is, at puberty, during pregnancy, and at 
the change of life. Diseases peculiar to her sex lead 
to them with almost inevitable certainty, and the phy- 
sician must first acquaint himself with her most intimate 
history, ere he can intelligently prepare to combat these 
blots on the scutcheon of beauty. Often, too, he will 
with the Roman general Fabius, 

" Qui cunctando restituit rem, 1 ' 

counsel delay as the best part of valor and the wisest 
act of practice. Xot that he will be much afraid 
of " driving in" one of these eruptions. This terror 
belongs to an obsolete epoch of medical science. 
Except at the periods we have just referred to, we can- 
21 



242 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

not cure too quickly any skin disease. But at those 
times, especially during pregnancy, we must look cau- 
tiously to the effects of our medicines on the rest of 
the system, and on a being yet unborn. When nature 
is putting forth all her power to accomplish one of 
these mysterious transformations, or is engaged in the 
sublime and primal act of creation, the man is fool- 
hardy who "without great argument' ' will interfere in 
her subtle processes. 

These eruptions are either dry, covering the skin with 
thousands of minute scales like bran, or contain some 
fluid or half-fluid substance which oozes or can be 
pressed from them. Many of them are accompanied 
with discolorations of the skin, and with more or less 
pain. The pain, however, is in many of them less an- 
noying than the itching. This is at times almost insup- 
portable, and it may be present where there is no 
eruption visible whatever. Old people frequently are 
disturbed at night by it, and some girls and women, in 
perfect health apparently, are most seriously distressed 
by intolerable itching in divers parts. We know the 
case of a married lady, who during each pregnancy 
was almost driven wild by this distress. The family 
physician exhausted all his resources without doing the 
least good. One clay when a toothache was added to 
her other miseries, her husband told her to take a few 
whiffs of his cigar in order to soothe the tooth. She 
did so, and as if by magic the itching entirely left her. 



RECIPES FOR ITCHING. 243 

She found by smoking for a few minutes several times 
a day she could live with perfect comfort. It is not 
likely that the remedy would have so desirable an 
effect on every one, as the complaint is extremely ob- 
stinate. 

The itching and burning with which girls are af- 
fected often depend upon worms, or upon some dis- 
turbance of the digestion. 

The parts can be washed several times a day with 
one of these lotions, which should not be wiped off: — 
Take- 
Powdered borax a half ounce ; 
Rain water a pint. 

Mix. 
Or, 

Take hyposulphite of soda, and water, the same quantities. 
Or this unguent : — 

Take- 
Bicarbonate of soda two ounces : 
Tincture of benzoin one ounce. 

Mix, and rub a small portion on the part while in bed. 
As we have said, there may be no eruption whatever, 
and yet the severest itching. Therefore, except as 
the skin is torn by scratching, such complaints hardly 
come within our present scheme. But when some visi- 
ble sign is present, especially, on the exposed parts, it 
is time for active interference. The women of to-day 
must not despair, like Anne of Austria, wife of Louis 
XIIL, of France. 



244 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

That noble dame suffered from an eruption on her 
body which could not be cured. At length it invaded 
her hands and face. When she thus found herself dis- 
figured, she took to her bed, and saying: "It is time 
for me to depart," refused all attentions, and died. 
However severe such eruptions may be, very few are 
beyond the reach of modern medical science. 

PIMPLES, HIVES, CARBUNCLES, ETC. 

On every square inch of the skin there are hundreds 
and hundreds of little openings, through which the 
perspiration finds an exit, or in which the hairs are 
planted. These openings lead to short canals which 
descend into the true skin. Besides the perspiration, 
the sides of these canals secrete a fatty substance 
which gives to the skin its oiliness and smoothness. 

Sometimes the aperture of one of the canals becomes 

choked, and the fatty secretion, instead of flowing out, 

is penned in and hardens. The portion of it at the 

aperture becomes dirty and black, and forms one of 

those small black specks on the face, which common 

people call "grubs," from the belief that they are the 

black heads of little worms. They can be readily 

■ 
pressed out after washing tliQ face with soap, and 

anointing it with glycerine. 

When for some reason the health is not robust, as 
for instance when young people are growing too ra- 
pidly, a canal or sweat-gland which is thus stopped up 



ON PIMPLES. 245 

may become inflamed, red, and swollen, forming a 
pimple, or what the French call couperose. Pimples 
are the despair of beauty, and many a young girl is 
annoyed by them beyond all expression. We have all 
seen not a few faces spoiled by them, and not only are 
they most apt to occur at that period of life when we 
are most solicitous about our personal appearance, but 
in the large majority of cases the female sex are the 
sufferers. 

Indiscretions in diet may cause t^em, and it is said 
that coffee especially predisposes to them, as it may 
also to a darkening of the skin. 

They are very frequent again about the change of 
life, and some women have them whenever they are 
with child. They usually are associated with some 
alteration in the general health, and, as a rule, are 
very obstinate, disfiguring the complexion for years 
unless properly treated. 

As they so often depend upon some constitutional 
irregularitj T , which must first be remedied, and which 
can only be done by a physician, the cures we are 
about to suggest, though often successful, are not al- 
ways so. They may be tried, and if they do not suc- 
ceed, it may be taken as a hint that the case is beyond 
domestic medication. 

A very useful wash is the borax and glycerine lotion 
which we gave on a previous page. It should be used 

21* 



246 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

several times a day, and allowed to remain on the 
face. 

A teaspoonful of powdered alum dissolved in a tum- 
bler of water is another often successful wash, which 
should be applied in the same manner. 

If, after trying either of these for a fortnight, no 
benefit is apparent, then the face should be washed 
with strong soft soap at night, and the pimples 
smeared with a paste made of flowers of sulphur and 
spirits of camphor. This should be washed off next 
morning, and the spots rubbed with a small quantity 
of glycerine. 

Sea-bathing, or a visit to the Sulphur Springs of Vir- 
ginia (either the White or the Red Sulphur), or those 
equally efficient sulphurous sources in Florida, or 
washing with sulphur soap, will be of great avail. A 
bath of some kind should be taken daily, and the skin 
well rubbed, as by this means the pores of the whole 
body are opened, and those of the face have therefore 
less to do. 

Such pimples are most common on the forehead 
and cheeks. There is another variety still more an- 
noying. They commence on the nose, and spread from 
it as a centre over the face. The surface is red, and 
swollen into small lumps, which the vulgar call " car- 
buncles," or " rum-blossoms, " because the popular be- 
lief is that they generally come from hard-drinking. 
This is not true, for they are less frequent in men than 



A DARING PUNSTER. 247 

in women. The suspicion they create is, however, 
very unpleasant, as well as the loss of beauty, and they 
are quite as common in the best classes of society as 
among the poor and needy. Francis the First, King 
of France, the same of whom it is related that he 
stooped to pick up the pencil of Titian, was afflicted 
with them for several years. He was even philosophi- 
cal enough not to resent a joke at their expense. One 
day, in his wars with the Emperor Charles V., of Ger- 
many, he was expressing some anxiety about the safe- 
keeping of the crown-jewels. His brother, who stood 
by, dared to say : — 

" Your majesty need give yourself no uneasiness 
about them. You alwaj^s carry them under your own 
eyes." 

The pun is broader in French, in which language 
these red swellings are familiarly called rubis, rubies. 

The disease is often foreshadowed by flushing of the 
face and nose at meals, and whenever hot or spirituous 
drinks are taken. Though obstinate, it is curable, and 
so far from requiring a meagre diet, as so many people 
suppose, and consequently deny themselves even 
necessary food, it is a disease of debility, demanding 
plenty of good nourishing aliment. When quite re- 
cent, spirits of camphor which has been poured over 
fresh sliced horseradish is an efficient wash. 

It is too often associated with some disorder of 
digestion, or with general feebleness, for local remedies 



248 PERSONAL BEAUTY, 

only to avail much, so that we can but admonish 
those who suffer from it, or who are threatened with 
it, to put themselves on proper constitutional treat- 
ment. 

Hives, or the nettle-rash, is a curious complaint from 
which some persons suffer very frequently. The skin 
becomes red, and swells in ridges, similar to those 
caused by the stings of a nettle, or a smart blow of a 
cowskin. We have seen instances where it appeared 
regularly after eating lobster, and in another case from 
an oyster supper. 

There are any number of domestic remedies vaunted 
for it, not one of which is of much value. Too often 
it is constitutional, or else dependent upon some dis- 
order of the digestive organs, for any simple applica- 
tion to do good. Washing with the borax and glyce- 
rine lotion promises well. Persons who are subject to 
it should not wear flannel next the skin, should be 
very careful about their diet, and should use some 
stimulating lotion (a pint of camphor water with one 
teaspoonful of tincture of red pepper) once or twice a 
week. 

Heat rash, or prickly heat, is an invariable concomi- 
tant of hot weather, with some whose skins are delicate. 
Children suffer much from it. A cooling lotion, such 
as a few teaspoonfuls of dilute solution of the subace- 
tate of lead in a half pint of water, or a heaping spoon- 
ful of baking soda in the same quantity, or a mixture 



THE WOLF, 249 

of vinegar and water, will often relieve the heat and 
burning. 

One cannot examine too suspiciously any eruption 
or spot on the face. Sometimes the neglect of an 
apparently insignificant pimple has resulted most 
sadly. 

There is a terrible disease called significantly lupus, 
the wolf, on account of the fearful ravages it causes 
when once established. Not another complaint in the 
long and dismal catalogue of maladies leads to such 
horrible deformity, gnawing, as it does, flesh, bone, 
bloodvessels, one after another, quite away. We speak 
of it with the greater emphasis because its victims are 
most commonly young, robust looking, previously 
healthy women, and because at its outset it masks 
itself under such an insignificant form, that it is apt to 
be overlooked. 

" Such is the deceptive mode of its approach/' says 
the English surgeon, Mr. Thomas Hunt, "that the 
physician is almost as liable as the patient to mistake 
it at first for some trifling disease." It commences 
nearly always with a small tender pimple or sore 
spot on, close by, or within the nose. Whenever such 
a one is noticed, it is of the utmost importance to 
institute a close examination, " for," says the same 
writer, " if it should prove to be lupus, a brief delay 
will be sure to produce more or less deformity, and the 



250 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

beauty of the patient will be irrecoverably lost." Its 
treatment must be early and decisive. Too much care 
cannot be taken to prevent it fastening on the tissues. 
All scabs, sores, and pimples in this region should 
therefore be regarded suspiciously, and if they seem 
slow in healing, a surgeon's advice should be sought. 

From this distressing foe of beauty we shall pass to 
some by no means so appalling, but nevertheless quite 
worthy our attention. Some faces are sown with mi- 
nute, hard, white pimples in the skin, from the size of 
a pin's head to that of a pea. They are painless, but 
ruin the beauty of the complexion, and should, there- 
fore, be removed. They occur at all periods of life, 
and as fate decrees that there shall be many reminders 
to humble the pride of comeliness, so they are most 
frequent in the young. The eyelid, both on the inner 
.and the outer side, is one of their chosen seats. 

Those who are subject to them should wash daily 
with soap containing tar, such as can now be readily 
obtained from druggists. As for removing them, there 
is only one way known, and that is by puncturing 
them with the point of an extremely sharp lancet, and 
squeezing out the contents. No scar will be left if the 
little operation is carefully done. 

We have already spoken of warts on the hands. 
They are bad enough in that position, but what shall 
we say to them on the face ? Almost daily, in walking 
through the streets of this city, we see handsome faces 



WARTY FACES. 251 

and necks marred by these ugly excrescences. Why 
they are allowed to remain is a constant puzzle to us, 
when they can be surely and promptly removed, leaving 
no scar, or at worst a small bleached spot, and this 
with little and often no pain. We have already 
referred to some of the means employed to destroy 
them, and may here add that where they are numerous 
and apt to recur, as is the case with some persons, a 
course of internal treatment under medical advice 
should be commenced which will effectually dispel any 
such tendency. Warty faces convey an impression of 
vulgarity, because one associates them with neglect of 
personal care, and a coarse diet. 

There are many other varieties of tumors in the skin 
and immediately beneath it. Some of these, such as 
wens, which are so common on the heads of many per- 
sons, can only be remedied by the surgeon's knife. 
Others, especially such as are found on the neck, un- 
der the chin, and in front of the ears, are what are 
called glandular, and not hastily to be meddled with in 
this manner. Against them, galvanism and electricity 
are our weapons, and often we are able to disperse 
them or reduce them very considerably by these pow- 
erful agents, without the use of any other means what- 
ever. We shall not go into a discussion of the appa- 
ratus employed, and the method found most successful 
to accomplish this, for the professional man can find it 
elsewhere, and the readers whom we address will not 



252 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

design to apply it on themselves. Suffice it if we as- 
sure them that until this means has been fully tried, 
they should not rest content to carry about such a de- 
formity. 

THE PREVENTION AND REMOVAL OF SCARS. 

Whenever the face or the hands are cut, burned, or 
otherwise injured, it is of the utmost importance to 
see that the least possible scar is left. The parts 
should be carefully washed with cold water, until they 
are thoroughly cleaned and no longer bleed, and then 
the edges brought together very exactly, and fastened 
with sticking plaster. In large wounds, the care of a 
surgeon will be necessary to prevent deformity. Burns 
are peculiarly liable to leave behind them ugly marks, 
which it is next to impossible to diminish. We must, 
therefore, aim to conceal them, which, in some in- 
stances, can be very satisfactorily done by the method 
of tattooing with flesh-colored tints, to which we have 
alluded previously. 

What is worse than this about these scars from 
burns and scalds is the tendency they have to contract, 
pulling the features and neighboring parts into the 
most frightfully deformed positions. During the pro- 
cess of healing, the surgeon will overcome this in great 
measure by elastic straps and proper apparatus. 
When it has once taken place, the cure is difficult. 
Still, for the term of a year after the injury, the scar is 



SMALLPOX MARKS. 253 

still pliable enough to be stretched. When it refuses 
these gentle means, it must be attacked with the sur- 

eon's knife. It is true that it is often one of the most 
delicate and difficult operations in surgery to remedy 
these contractions, but with great patience among all 
concerned, it can generally be successfully carried 
through, and the parts, though never equal to what 
they might have been, will no longer be frightful or 
disgusting in appearance. Thus, an eyelid permanently 
drawn down, a chin fastened to the neck, two fingers 
grown together, or an ear pulled out of position, may 
be very much amended. 

Thanks to Lad}^ Mary Wortley Montague, who in- 
troduced inoculation from Turkey, and to Dr. Jenner, 

ho discovered vaccination, it is a rare sight now-a- 
days to see any one in the higher walks of life pitted 
by the smallpox. In former times, it used to be the 
terror of life to every one who had a pretty face, for 
there was no means known to prevent it leaving its 
hideous traces, even if life itself was not lost. Now, 
we can but rarely entirely do away with, or conceal 
the pits it digs, but very much may be done to prevent 
the attack, and in those rare instances where that fails 
to protect the individuals the scarring can be almost 
wholly avoided by timely local applications. So that 
not only in a medical but in a cosmetic point of view, 
our oentury has here won a manifest victory. 
Even those faces which are pitted by the disease can 
22 



254 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

always be improved, and some very considerably so. 
For this purpose, strong stimulating lotions are em- 
ployed several times daily, alternated with gentle and 
long-continued inunction of oil or glycerine. In many 
instances, by steady perseverance in such applications 
very great improvement has resulted. 

ON WRINKLES. 

What cosmetic artist would not give one of his 
fingers to know some simple, efficacious means to do 
away with the furrows which Time leaves in the brow 
and cheeks ? It has occupied the thoughts of many 
a one, and we could tell of dozens of processes sug- 
gested. They are different in plan, but in one respect 
are all alike, and that is, they are all of no avail. 

The only suggestions we have to make are pre- 
ventive, not curative. Let the skin be maintained in 
a soft, pliable, healthy condition, avoid frowning and 
grimaces which contract the muscles of the face, do not 
sit by a bright light which forces you to squint and 
half close the eyes, and maintain as much command as 
possible over the facial muscles. 

It has been supposed that when once the skin has 
been thus corrugated into folds, it were possible, by 
stretching it with adhesive strips, to restore it to its 
natural evenness and smoothness. This has failed in 
every instance we have known it tried, and we con- 
sider it time thrown away. Undoubtedly half the lines 



WRINKLES. 255 

which seam the face of maturity are not those of years, 
but of passion, of chagrin, or of habitual contortion of 
the muscles. They can therefore be prevented, and 
when they are just beginning to show themselves, they 
can be diminished by a strong exertion of self-com- 
mand. 

In the artificial courts of the last century, and in 
certain circles of our day, it was and is the custom to 
plaster these inequalities with a sort of " enamel," a 
ridiculous and harmful usage, which can only be done 
at the expense of an injury to the skin, and, what is 
not less pardonable, it can inevitably be detected by 
an eye at all practised in cosmetic arts. 



THE HAIR. 

TF we were inclined to commence this chapter with a 
-*- text, we should have no difficulty in finding an 
appropriate one. For example, these words of St. 
Paul :— 

u If a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her." 
Or if our wish is to choose a graceful motto from 
some poet, what neater lines could be found than 
these : — 

" Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, 
And beauty draws us with a single hair." 

All writers, sacred and profane, ancient and modern, 
join in praising with unstinted terms the advantages 
which personal comeliness derives from a handsome 
head of hair. 

In all ages women have been deeply sensitive of it, 

and even when fashion decreed that the flowing locks 

should be cropped, it was only to supply their place 

with artificial ones of more luxuriant amplitude. Few 

(25G ) 



THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. 257 

willingly forego the advantages it gives. The Duchess 
of Marlborough, wife of the " great Duke," was a ter- 
magant of the worst sort. Xo anecdote so forcibly 
illustrates her temper as this : She had long and rich 
hair, which her husband greatly admired. One day, to 
spite him, she cropped it off close and threw it in his 
face. 

But she was of a nature to defy death itself. "When 
very old, she was taken sick. The physicians told her 
she must be blistered. She refused. They urged it. 
j She remained obstinate. At length one of them said, 
M Unless your ladyship is willing to be blistered you 
will die." "I won't be blistered and I won't die," re- 
turned the incorrigible old woman. And for that time 
she was as good as her word. 

Her daughter inherited her disposition, and between 
them both the Duke, who was an affectionate husband 
and father, had a trying time. He dryly remarked to 
his daughter one day : — 

" I wonder you and your mother do not agree better. 
You are so much alike." 

But a truce to these stories. We set out to write 
a chapter on the hair, and not the History of England. 
We shall begin at once with a few words on the 

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HAIR. 

When a hair is pulled from the head, we observe that 
the end which was implanted in the scalp is larger 

22* 



253 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

than the shaft. This portion is the bulb or root of the 
hair. It is firmly fixed in the true skin or derma, and 
from it, as the tree from its root, the hair draws its 
sustenance. The shaft, when examined by a micro- 
scope, is seen in straight hairs to be nearly or quite 
round, but more or less flattened when the hair is wavy 
or curly, for the flattening of the hair causes this curli- 
ness. 

If a hair is drawn between the fingers from its root 
to its point, it feels smooth, but when drawn from its 
point to its root, it leaves a sensation of roughness. 
This is because each hair is covered with minute scales, 
in appearance like those on a fish or a snake, disposed 
from root to point, one overlapping the other like slates 
on a steeple. 

Beneath this layer of scales is a mass of fibrous cells, 
in shape like spindles, which form the body of the hair. 
They contain the coloring matter which imparts to the 
hair its hue. Through the centre of the hair, from root 
to tip, is a very minute canal filled with air. So that 
in fact a hair is a delicate tube with two walls, the 
inner one of strong fibrous cells containing coloring 
matter, the outer one of flat scales. 

Everybody knows what a difference there is in the 
size of hairs. Some are fine and silky, others coarse 
and bristly. But every one does not know that the 
coarsest hair is found in women. We would naturally 
suppose that men would have it, but it is not so. The 



NUMBER OF THE HAIRS. 259 

finest .hair occurs in children, especially those who are 
scrofulous. The difference is considerable. The dia- 
meter of some hairs is twelve or thirteen times greater 
than that of others. 

It is a vain task, one might suppose, to set to work 
to number the hairs of the head. " As the hairs of the 
head, or the sands of the sea in number," is a favorite 
Oriental metaphor to express an innumerable host. 
Yet there are those who have attempted this incredible 
labor. Nor is it a very great task to make some ap- 
proximation. Thus we know there are one hundred 
and twenty square inches covered with hair, on a head 
of average size. Take a single square inch, where the 
hairs seem of an average thickness, and count how 
many there are. It can be done in a short time. The 
result will be, in a healthy scalp, from eight hundred 
to twelve hundred, say in round numbers one thou- 
sand. Multiply this by one hundred and twenty, and 
we have one hundred and twenty thousand as the ave- 
rage number of hairs on the head. 

In the early ages the Frankish kings used to pluck 
a single hair and bestow it on one of their attendants 
as a (cheap and) significant token of their favor. Few 
of them but might have so rewarded every one of their 
subjects without materially thinning the covering which 
nature had given their heads. 

The fine short hairs over the body are not nearly so 
thick. For instance, since writing the last paragraph, 



2G0 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

we have marked out on our forearm the area of one 
square inch, and carefully counted the hairs it con- 
tains. There are eighty-five in all, and this is more 
than authors say are usually found. 

The growth of the hair in a healthy scalp is from 
eight to ten inches a year. Its rapidity is not the 
same at all times. A German writer who has given 
great attention to this small matter (if, indeed, any 
of the operations of nature should be called small) 
has found that it grows faster in the daytime than at 
night, and in the summer than the winter. There is a 
common notion that the increase is also more marked 
in the first half of the lunar month, and there are not 
wanting men of science who have indorsed this belief. 
"Who does not know by his own experience,'' confi- 
dently says the Abbe Toaldo in his Saggio Meteoro- 
logico, " that the hair and nails grow faster after the 
new, than after the full moon?" To which question 
most physicians coolly reply that nobody knows it. 
As it is a matter of one's own experience, we recom- 
mend every one who is curious about it to observe for 
himself, and make up his own mind irrespective of the 
agreement of doctors. 

Many persons are alarmed toward the close of sum- 
mer and the commencement of autumn, to discover 
their hair coming out in unusual quantity. There is 
commonly no ground for anxiety. This is a natural 
and healthy occurrence, similar to the moulting of 



THE COLOR OF THE HAIR. -261 

fowls, or the change of coat in deer, cats, and other 
hairy animals. The hairs reach their maturity, die, 
fall out, and are replaced by others, but to a less ex- 
tent in man than in those animals. 

Children who are born with hair lose it all in a few 
months, though the change is hardly noticed, as the 
new hair is substituted so gradually. During a fever 
or a sea voyage, it is not unusual for the hair to fall out, 
but it is very rare for the baldness to remain, if proper 
precautions are observed. So long as the hair-bulbs 
are healthy, the hair can be made to grow ; when they 
are destroyed or absorbed, then the baldness is irreme- 
diable, and it is useless and foolish to attempt any 
course of treatment to restore it. If the skin has a 
white, shiny, polished appearance, if it does not easily 
become red when rubbed, if on examining it with a 
microscope, a number of small hairs are not visible, 
and the ducts of the hair-bulbs are closed, then the 
patient had better spend no more money on " hair re- 
storers, " " philoconies," or " trichogenes," but save it 
for his perruquier. 

The color of the hair we have explained to be depen- 
dent on the coloring matter in the cells of the inner 
coat. It varies in health from a light flaxen to a jet 
black, and can to some extent be altered by the mate- 
rials taken as food, and also by applications made 
directly to the external surface of the scalp. 



262 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

THE HAIR IN HEALTH — WASHING, COMBING, AND 
BRUSHING. 

The skin of the scalp, like that of any other part of 
the body, must be kept clean in order to be healthy. 
We do not, however, recommend it to be washed too 
often. It is no small labor for a woman with long and 
thick tresses to give her head a thorough ablution. 
Once a week is as often as we can ask her to do it. 

The materials needed are a fine sponge, soft, tepid 
water, and a mild neutral soap, white Castile being as 
good as any. The locks should be parted, and the 
sponge, moistened, but not dripping, should be rubbed 
on the scalp, not on the hair. The hair needs no 
washing, but only the skin. After the head has been 
cleansed, the soap should be carefully removed by the 
sponge and pure water, and the hair dried with a soft 
towel. 

Instead of the soap and water, many prefer the yelk 
of an egg beaten up in a tumbler of warm water, and 
it makes an excellent application. There are also cir- 
cumstances, as, for instance, where soft water is not 
convenient, when a hair-wash may be used to advan- 
tage. We shall suggest several of these, which can be 
readily prepared, and which are suitable for frequent 
use on healthy heads. 

Dissolve half an ounce of transparent soap in a quart 
of rain water. Add a small wineglassful of alcohol, 



HAIR TONICS. 263 

and a few drops of some aromatic oil. Let it stand a 
few days before using, shaking it occasionally. 
Or this :— 

Borax in powder a teaspoonful ; 

Soft water a quart ; 

Oil of lavender sufficient to scent. 

Or this :— 

Aromatic spirits of ammonia, 

Best olive oil, of each a tablespoonful. 

Mix them well together, then add slowly a pint of 
rain water, and scent with rondeletia, or otto of roses, 
or whatever aroma is preferred. 

After the scalp has been thus thoroughly cleansed, 
it is unnecessary to use any oil or pomatum whatever, 
as the natural secretion of the skin is sufficient. If, 
however, either of the above washes seems to leave the 
hair dry and the skin harsh, a few teaspoonfuls of pure 
glycerine may be added to the receipt. 

It is of great importance in washing the head, as 
well as in brushing or dressing it, not to pull or jerk 
the hair. Everything must be done gently, as violence 
breaks, splits, and loosens the hairs, ultimately causing 
them to fall out and leave bare spots. 

There is a precept in hair-dressing which cannot be 
too widely known. It is this : — 

Wash the scalp, but not the hair; comb the hair, 
but not the scalp. 



264 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

Except in diseased conditions of the skin, there is no 
occasion for scratching it with a sharp-pointed comb, 
or a hard brush. Such irritation frequently leads to 
disease, and should be avoided. Combs are for arrang- 
ing and cleansing the hair. They should be of several 
sizes, their teeth blunt, and entirely free from cracks, 
splinters, or broken points. If a single tooth is broken 
or split, the comb should be discarded. Buffalo horn, 
tortoise shell, ivory, vulcanized rubber, are all unob- 
jectionable materials, though the latter is often incon- 
venient on account of the electricity it develops. 

A coarse comb should first be used to loosen the 
hair from knots, and then a fine comb to cleanse it 
from dust or powder. 

Several brushes are required to dress the hair pro- 
perly. One should be soft and yielding, with which 
the scalp itself should be brushed. Another of firmer 
bristles is requisite to brush out the hair, and clean it 
more thoroughly than the comb. And a third should 
be devoted to applying any oil or similar application, 
which may be used. For this latter purpose, the inge- 
nuity of perfumers has devised a special form of brush, 
with a hollow back in which the oil or lotion is poured, 
and by which it can be applied without greasing the 
hands or dripping on the clothing. 

As the hairs have a natural direction in coming 
through the skin, it is well to brush and comb them 
always in this direction, and never against it, and still 



CARE OF THE HAIR. 265 

less to rub them from the tip toward the root. Any 
such proceeding weakens them. When the mode pre- 
scribes the hair to be dressed contrary to its usual 
growth, as in the frisure a la Chinoise, and a VEm- 
presse Eugenie, this direction must be given them 
gently, and without unnecessary combing. 

After the scalp is washed, the hair should be put up 
loosely for several hours, and avoidance of exposure to 
the sun or out-door air for the same length of time is 
altogether advisable. 

Whenever a person with long hair expects to be sick 
for any length of time, the hair should be firmly plaited, 
but without straining the roots, and not disturbed so 
long as it feels comfortable. During and after a fever 
it is very apt to fall, but will be quite sure to grow 
again, especially if it is kept closely cut, and some 
stimulant application, such as we shall describe here- 
after, is regularly employed. 

This leads us to consider the general question of 

CUTTING THE HAIR. 

It is curious how people, even professional special- 
ists in the treatment of the hair, differ on the propriety 
and results of clipping it. Some 'maintain that it is 
one of the most important points in its preservation, 
while others declare it is of no use whatever, or posi- 
tively injurious. For instance, we have in our hands a 

book on skin diseases by Dr. Tilbury Fox, a very high 
23 



2G6 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

authority among our English cousins. He says, " Shav- 
f ing the scalp is beneficial. Nine out of ten affirm that 
this does harm. I know to the contrary.' 7 

We have a friend, a surgeon in the navy, who is one 
of the nine. He was on duty in the East India squad- 
ron, and for some cause, he could not imagine what, 
his hair commenced falling out. He thereupon shaved 
his head, and what was his annoyance to find that the 
hairs never would grow again ! You may be sure he 
does not indorse Dr. Tilbury Fox. 

Men keep their hair closely cropped, and have done 
so as a rule ever since history commenced. Yet it is 
matter of daily observation that their hair is weaker 
than woman's, more apt to fall out, and more subject 
to disease. This has been explained by all sorts of 
theories. Some have blamed "stove-pipe hats," some 
the custom of more completely covering the head and 
thus shutting out the air, others attribute it to the 
greater activity of the brain in man (absurd people!), 
others claim the difference is owing to the greater 
pains women take with their hair, and others accuse 
cutting the locks as the cause of their downfall. But 
it is likely that all are wrong, and that it is one of the 
physiological peculiarities of the male sex, to have 
weaker, as we have already stated that it is to have 
finer hair (that is, of less diameter). The apostle 
Paul, who, though no physiologist by profession was 
a man of consummate ability, and educated in all the 



CUTTING THE HAIR. 26 T 

wisdom of both Jews and Greeks, was clearly of this 
opinion when he said (1 Corinthians xi. 14): — 

" Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man 
have long hair it is a shame unto him?" Meaning, 
evidently, that nature had reserved for the other sex 
superior strength and durability of the hair. 

If this is so, then the argument against cutting does 
not find support here. Moreover, a wide and carefully 
noted experience shows that the hair is strengthened, 
and its growth is more rapid, if frequently clipped. 
One of those pains-taking Germans, whose patience is 
only equalled by their accuracy, tells us that if a man 
shaves every twelve hours, his beard will grow from 
six to twelve inches a year, but if he shaves only once 
in thirty-six hours, it will grow but from four to six 
inches in the same time. This is true in principle for 
the hair elsewhere. 

We shall commence our precepts with childhood. 
It is known that there is a feeble circulation in a hair. 
It is not dead, but living, and constantly draws nou- 
rishment from the fluids with which its root is sur- 
rounded. The longer it is, the more it demands from 
its root. Therefore, in children, while it is well always 
to give the root enough to do, it is not well to over- 
work it. Their hair should be kept at a medium 
length, say from three to six inches, by monthly clip- 
pings, until they are fourteen or fifteen years of age. 
Then it may be allowed to grow. 



268 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

In older persons the plan that should be adopted is 
different. Their hair should be examined, scissors in 
hand, once a month, but not with a view of curtailing 
its length. The plan suggested by that distinguished 
writer on Skin Diseases, Mr. Erasmus Wilson, though 
a tedious one, is undoubtedly superior to all others. 
The locks, he recommends, should be carefully scruti- 
nized, and wherever a hair is found with a split, a 
twisted, a dead, or a discolored extremity, it should be 
cut off down to the healthy portion. All others 
should be left undisturbed. By this simple procedure, 
the hair is sure to be maintained in full vigor, and will 
constantly increase in length. It may be somewhat 
tedious, but what woman who sets much store by her 
flowing locks would not be willing to devote say two 
or three hours a month to this procedure ? We posi- 
tively state that this is the only kind of hair-cutting 
which one with healthy hair should submit to under 
ordinary circumstances. 

We make this latter proviso, for we have met cases 
where the hair had to be kept short for considerations 
of general health. Some women suffer much from 
headache, which will not yield to any treatment until 
the hair is shortened. Others have found that by some 
sympathy difficult to explain, the eyesight was im- 
proved by trimming their locks. Such instances are 
rare, but as they are so often overlooked, it is well to 
give them a passing mention. The sympathy between 



BANDOLINES AND FIXATEURS. 269 

the hair and the eyes is said to be especially observable 
in children of a scrofulous constitution, and for that 
reason their hair should not be allowed to grow long. 

HOW TO CURL AND STIFFEN THE HAIR. 

Dishevelled locks are rarely in fashion. Much more 
frequently the decrees of the mode prescribe some fris- 
ure into which the rebellious tresses have to be forced 
against their will. To constrain them, certain prepa- 
rations have been devised, known as bandolines, or 
■fixateurs (the technical terms of the toilet are always 
derived from the French). We shall give several of 
them which are harmless, and may therefore be used 
without scruple. The simplest is soap and water, or 
water alone. But these are not always efficient. Here 
is a venerable and familiar one : — 

Take- 
Bruised quince seeds a tablespoonful ; 
Clean rain water a pint. 

Boil gently to three-quarters of a pint, then strain 
through muslin and add 

Alcohol or brandy, 

Cologne water, of each two tablespoonfuls. 

It can be applied by moistening the fingers and pass- 
ing them through the hair, or, what is neater, by using 
for the purpose a small sponge. 

The following is equally well adapted and easily 

compounded : — 

23* 



270 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

Dissolve three ounces of clean powdered gum-arabic 
in half a pint of rose-water. Strain and add sufficient 
aniline red (about one drop of the solution) to give it 
a rosy color. This not only fixes the hair in place, 
but lends it a peculiar brilliant gloss, very attractive. 
It is similar to the celebrated Creme de mauve, which 
is after all nothing but glycerine scented with extract 
of jessamine, and colored with aniline red. The 
striking tint which it gives the hair rendered it quite 
popular at once. 

A small quantity of powdered alum is sometimes 
added to either of the above receipts, in order to ren- 
der them still stronger, but usually they will be found 
to answer perfectly without this ingredient. 

For the same purpose, hairdressers frequently em- 
ploy what are called hard or stick pomatum {batons 
Hxateurs). They are of wax with more or less animal 
fat, and scented and colored in various manners. Usu- 
ally they are not injurious, but they leave a greasy 
appearance, and are inferior to the bandolines above 
mentioned. 

Ladies need not be informed that to curl the hair, 
curling sticks and curl papers are the usual methods. 
The latter should not be wound too tight, as the strain 
upon the roots of the hair is hurtful to its growth. By 
judiciously using the mucilaginous washes just de- 
scribed, the hair will remain in curl or in waves with- 
out such violence being required. 



CURLING FLUIDS. 271 

Sometimes fashion approves of a thousand little 
ripples of hair over the head. It is no trifling mat- 
ter to obey her behests here, without sacrificing the 
safety of the locks. Some lay hold of the curling 
tongs, and certainly this instrument brings about 
speedy results. Experience teaches, however, that the 
heat of the iron destroys the life of the hair, the slow 
circulation which we have mentioned is checked, and 
after a few years, if not sooner, the head loses it 
covering. 

In Paris, and we suspect in this countiy too, hair- 
dressers employ for the same purpose the powerful 
mixture used by the dealers in furs to curl and twist 
the hair on the skins they make into muffs, etc. This 
is a solution of quicksilver in nitric acid. Some of it 
is diluted with an equal amount of water ; the hair is 
moistened with it for several inches from the head, 
care being taken not to let any of the fluid touch the 
scalp. The locks are then placed loosely in the crimps 
it is wished to give them, and rapidly dried by a stove 
or in a draft of warm air. After several hours they 
are thoroughly washed with warm water. The curl 
remains for several weeks or even longer. But the 
process is a deleterious one, as the acid eats into the 
hair and destroys its vitality. This is the preparation 
sold under the name of secretage, or " permanent 
curling fluid." TTe do not give the formula, as we do 
not approve of its use, and no one who confines the 



272 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

arts of the toilet within the limits prescribed by the 
laws of health and good sense, will permit themselves 
to use it or have it applied. 

HAIR-POWDERS. 

Within a few years the ancient custom of powdering 
the hair has come again into vogue. In the last cen- 
tury it was almost universal, and one of William Pitt's 
famous methods of raising the revenue was to tax hair- 
powder. He estimated, in 1795, that the amount of 
flour annually consumed for this purpose in the United 
Kingdom represented the enormous and incredible 
value of six million dollars I This must have been ex- 
cessive. 

When we called it an ancient custom we may not 
have been correct, as it cannot be traced further back 
than the end of the sixteenth century. Singular to 
say, the first who introduced it were the nuns in the 
French convents. Those who had occasion to leave 
temporarily the walls of the cloisters for any purpose 
were wont to powder their hair, so as to make it appear 
gray, and give them a venerable and aged look. The 
fashionable dames were struck with the excellent and 
novel effect of white powder on dark hair, and soon 
appropriated the device as one of the arts of the 
worldly toilet. The reverend fathers probably thought 
that here was another instance where the livery of 
heaven had been seized to serve the devil in, and now- 



POWDERING THE HAIR. 273 

a-days we do not hear of any nuns who continue the 
usage. 

For our part, we disagree with the reverend fathers 
(if they entertained the notion we have ascribed to 
them), the judicious use of innocuous powders being not 
in the least hurtful to the hair, and adding unquestion- 
ably, in some instances, to its beauty. 

The powder usually employed is simply potato 
starch, ground very fine, passed through a gauze sieve, 
and scented. It is not, however, the most elegant. 
To obtain this, the fashionable world levies a contribu- 
tion upon the icy North, in order to scatter over the 
heads of its favorites the simulated snows of age. The 
moss which the reindeer feeds on is dug from under 
the drifts, assorted and pulverized. It yields a fragrant, 
grayish-white powder, which is mingled with an equal 
part of finest starch, and sold under the name of " Cy- 
prus powder." This is prized beyond any other in 
the boudoirs of Europe. 

Whenever the hair is powdered, the following morn- 
ing it should be carefully washed, and the scalp cleansed 
with soap and water. Attention should be given that 
none of the powder remains in or behind the ears, or 
on the skin, as the secretions of the body soon change 
it into an irritating mass. In placing it on the hair, 
if the latter is dry, a very small quantity of glycerine 
should be used to idoisten it, and no more powder be 
added than will cling to the hairs, as it is exceedingly 



2Y4 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

disagreeable to have it flying about at every motion or 
draught of air. None of it should be allowed to fall 
on the face, or enter the eyes. 

In 1860, the Empress Eugenie set the fashion of 
using gold powder on some occasions. This has been 
followed to some extent in this country, but instead 
of gold powder, which is of course exorbitantly dear, 
bronze powder is used, which is very similar in appear- 
ance. Probably both of these metallic substances are 
hurtful to the hair, but as they would only be applied 
on rare occasions, we need not preach a philippic 
against them. 

GRAY HAIR, AND HAIR-DYES. 

Gray hair is not always a sign of years. Many per- 
sons have it long before the age of decrepitude, and 
some from earliest childhood. In more than one 
instance we have seen it in boys and girls, while it is 
not at all infrequent to find " a sable silvered", on heads 
over which not thirty winters have sprinkled their 
snows. 

Much depends upon the original color of the hair. 
Black and dark brown change sooner than light brown, 
red, or flaxen, and of course in the former the contrast 
is more marked. There is a shade of light brown 
which seems almost never to turn gray. We have seen 
it preserving its natural hue to tlie age of fourscore 
and beyond. 



GRAY HAIR AND PASSION. 275 

One of those popular beliefs, long current among 
the people and long discredited by physicians, but at 
length conceded by all, is the influence which the mind 
exerts in changing the color and affecting the growth 
of the hair. Whether it be that the hair is planted so 
near the brain, or whether it be that it is so intimately 
dependent on the nervous system, we do not know, 
but certain it is that great anxieties, trouble, violent 
emotions, especially of a dismal character, discolor or 
debilitate the hair. 

This is not extraordinary. Not the hair only, but 
every part of our system is preserved by serenity of 
mind, freedom from sorrow, avoidance of passion, 
absence of care, strong desire, or fear. It is not so 
much time as trouble that 

" Doth transfix the flourish set on youth, 
And delves the parallels in Beauty's brow." 

Would you learn the composition of the real elixir 
of life ? Seek it not in the volumes of medical or 
alchemical lore, but in serenity, cheerfulness, and con- 
tent. 

Fontenelle, who lived a hundred years, and was 
Secretary of the Academy of Sciences for more than 
half that period, owed his longevity to such a disposi- 
tion. He even carried it to the extent of impassive- 
ness. One day he spoke to Madame Tencin in a very 
calm manner about some occurrence, which he averred 
touched him to the heart. 



276 PERSONAL BEAUTY, 

w Heart P' exclaimed she, provoked at his apparent 
want of feeling, "heart! You have no heart. You 
are nothing but brains where your heart should be." 

This disposition Fontenelle inherited from his 
mother. She was niece of the celebrated dramatist 
Corneille, a pious and excellent woman, but not easily 
moved. Fontenelle used to say of her : " My mother 
was a quietist. When I would express some unortho- 
dox opinion before her, she would say, 4 My son, you 
will be damned.' But it did not trouble her." 

Gray hairs and wrinkles are slow in coming to such 
temperaments. 

On the contrary, intense grief blanches the hair in a 
few hours. Every one is familiar with the opening 
lines of Byron's Prisoner of Chillon : — 

M My hair is gray but not with years, 
Nor turned it white 
In a single night, 
As men's have done with sudden fears." 

In a note, the poet mentions Ludovico Sforza as 
the example he had in mind. The story is this : Lu- 
dovico Sforza, called from his dark complexion Ludo- 
vico the Moor, was Duke of Milan at the close of the 
fifteenth century. He was a cruel and unscrupulous 
man, as were all the Italian rulers of his day, from 
Alexander Sixth downward. By his political action, 
but especially by poisoning a nobleman who was under 
French protection, he drew upon himself the enmity of 




LUDOVICO SFORZA.— See Page 276. 



LUDOVICO SFORZA. 211 

France, was attacked, defeated, and driven from his 
dominions. 

He collected another army of Swiss and Italians, 
and encountered the foreign hosts once more on the 
battle-field. The conflict would have been decided in 
his favor, but the Swiss had been secretly bribed by 
the French, and in the heat of action withdrew. The 
Italians were panic-stricken and fled. Ludovico, de- 
serted by all but one or two attendants, took the 
clothes from the dead body of a peasant, and sought 
to escape in this disguise. He almost accomplished 
his purpose, but at nightfall was recognized by a caval- 
ryman, seized, and dragged to prison. Alone in the 
gloomy cell, the duke pondered the livelong, sleepless 
night on the past, with its glorious and misused oppor- 
tunities, and on the blank and hopeless future. The 
next morning the gaoler found in the cell a wan and 
gray-haired man, instead of the raven-locked and 
handsome nobleman he had shut in the night before. 
In one night, grief and fear had done the work of 
years. His terrors were not without foundation, for 
those chains never left his limbs till they were struck 
off his corpse. 

Such instances are by no means rare, and we could 
readily name many other characters distinguished in 
history, whose sufferings, proportionate to their pow- 
ers and prospects, have prematurely, and in a very 
short time, blanched their locks. 
24 



278 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

It is of more interest, however, to inquire into the 
general causes which are at work in bringing about 
this unwelcome change. The fact is familiar that in 
the large majority of cases we find, on examining a 
head about becoming gray, that single hairs are gray 
throughout their whole length, while others retain 
their original color. We do not find a hair black at 
the extremity and white at the root, as we might ex- 
pect, nor do we find others passing through the inter- 
mediate hues between gray, and that natural to the 
person. What we do find is a single, long, silvery 
thread, winding conspicuous and ominous among the 
ravem tresses. 

This is because when a hair turns gray it loses its 
pigment promptly — in a few hours or a few days 
throughout its whole length — owing to absorption by 
the root, or some chemical or mechanical change in the 
hair itself. 

There are some persons who turn gray very early 
without visible cause, and in some families premature 
grayness is hereditary. Sometimes a single lock of 
the hair, or one spot on the -head, alters in color, while 
all the remainder is unchanged. To explain such va- 
garies is not easy. 

Very respectable authorities say that when gray 
hair falls out, it does not grow again. This may be 
the rule, but we have known exceptions to it. A lady 
of our acquaintance lost all her hair, which was gray, 



ON GRAY HAIRS. 2T9 

during an illness. After her recovery a new growth 
appeared, thick and curly, but of the same silvery hue. 

Whatever the cause, extent, or manner of the gray- 
ness may be, the practical question is, how to conceal 
it, if concealment is desired. There are some faces 
which appear more pleasing with silvery locks, and at 
a certain age (we will not venture to give figures) it is 
uncomely to simulate the tresses of youth, when the 
ravages of years are too plainly visible on the features 
and the form. In premature grayness no good reason 
can be offered against hiding the disfigurement. 

Can the natural color be restored by diet or by 
drugs ? Many writers and many charlatans aver that 
it can. The latter are ready to hand out some secret 
fluid "which is not a dye," the former speak of food 
rich in carbon and iron, tonic medicines, and such 
other chemical elements as analysis reveals in dark 
hair. 

We believe that none of these means will with cer- 
tainty arrest the tendency to grayness, and still less 
will they bring the color to that which is already 
blanched. The general experience is that grayness is 
not a consequence of physical debility, or of an insuffi- 
cient diet. Nor can any external application mate- 
rially darken the hair, except as it acts either as a 
paint or a dye. All claims to the contrary are of little 
value, and when vehemently urged, cause us to suspect 
the nostrum which puts them forth as unworthy of 



280 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

confidence. We shall, therefore, speak of hair-dyes as 
the only means of service in concealing gray hair. 

The means for giving a temporary dark shade to the 
hair are burnt cork, frankincense black, hard pomatum, 
and leaden combs. None of these are either neat, 
durable, or satisfactory in color. For stage purposes, 
private theatricals, masquerades, and so forth, the hard 
pomatum is the best. 

The dyes are intended to give a natural color which 
will be reasonably permanent. A great deal of inge- 
nuity has been expended in searching for some chemical 
preparation which will strike a rich color promptly, 
without staining the skin, or injuring the hair or the 
general health. The search has been unsuccessful. 
No such compound has been found. 

We shall not go over the long catalogue of mineral 
and vegetable materials that are now used for the pur- 
pose, but confine ourselves to what we consider from 
our own observation, which has been extensive enough 
to justify us in having an opinion on the subject, to be 
the best. 

This is, first, nitrate of silver. This yields, when pro- 
perly diluted and skilfully applied, rich, natural shades, 
from a light brown to a jet black. The objections to 
it are that it stains the skin, that it has been known to 
be absorbed into the system, and lead to that blueness 
of the whole surface which we have mentioned, and 
that if applied too strong, too often, or awkwardly, it 



DYES FOR THE HAIR. 281 

will injure the hair. As the stains on the skin can be 
removed, and the other objections can be avoided by 
judicious use, they are not serious. 

The strength of the solution used for a full black, is 
a drachm and a half of the nitrate to two ounces of 
distilled water. To give a rich brown, dilute some of 
this with an equal amount of distilled water, and for 
a light brown with double the quantity of water. 

This simple solution will, in a few hours after appli- 
cation, yield the desired hue, but it is customary to use 
a mordant, to " strike the color" at once. The fol- 
lowing is one of the best : — 

Take— 

Of sulphuret of potassium three drachms ; 

Distilled water two ounces ; 

Liquor of potassa a drachm and a half ; 

Oil of anise seed a few drops. 

The hair is first thoroughly cleansed from dust and 
grease by washing in soap and water, or in water con- 
taining a little solution of ammonia. The hair is then 
allowed to dry, and is next moistened with the mor- 
dant, diluted with four or five times its bulk of water. 
After a few minutes, the nitrate of silver solution is 
rapidly and thoroughly applied by a fine tooth comb 
or small brush, the hairs being touched close to their 
roots, but the skin avoided. This part of the process 
is delicate, and to do it well requires a skilful hand. 

Such an operation, if submitted to once a month, 

24* 



282 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

will yield more satisfactory results than any other for 
this purpose, provided — and the proviso is all import- 
ant — that the materials are all of the very best quality, 
and the " artist' J fully equal to the emergency. 

Next to nitrate of silver, the walnut dyes are to be 
placed. They yield various shades of brown, accord- 
ing to their strength, and are quite innocent, but are 
objectionable on account of staining the skin. They 
can be prepared in the domestic laboratory by boiling 
in but little water the hulls of green walnuts (Juglans 
nigra), and straining and bottling the decoction. The 
hair should be thoroughly cleansed by a wash contain- 
ing ammonia (very weak, alwa}^, as a strong solution 
is harmful), and the dye applied with a tooth-brush. 
An elegant dye is prepared by some pharmaceutists 
from the extract of green walnuts, which can be pur- 
chased with full directions for its use. 

Vast quantities of sugar of lead have been used of 
late years for a dye. It is usually compounded with 
glycerine, water, flowers of sulphur, and some aromatic 
and coloring substances. This is . the composition of 
nine out of ten of the hair restorers, hair tonics, and 
hair washes, so loudly advertised all over the country. 

No doubt the lead and sulphur do darken the hair, 
but the color they yield is a dirty brown, not at all 
natural or pleasing. This is not all. We must con- 
demn this mixture, or any mixture for this purpose 
containing lead, as dangerous to health and life. Seve- 



DANGERS OF LEAD WASHES. 283 

ral cases have come within our own knowledge within 
the last year or two, where lead palsy, lead colic, and 
fatal poisoning, were caused by the use of just such 
hair-dyes. Very/ recently a physician of Davenport, 
Iowa, who for four years had employed a lead dye for 
his hair and beard, perished with all the symptoms of 
lead poison. A chemical examination proved that the 
metal had been absorbed by the skin, and was present 
in his internal organs. 

Some persons, it must be remembered, are extremely 
susceptible to the influence of the metal. They cannot 
employ such a hair-wash for a month without feeling 
bad effects. Others again may use it for years with 
impunity. The latter have no right to offer their ex- 
perience as proof that such a mixture is harmless. A 
much wider experience than they can possess, proves 
that it is perilous. We can at this present moment 
point to a lady hopelessly paralyzed by lead absorbed 
from a hair dye. The extensive and indiscriminate 
use of these mixtures deservedly meets with repro- 
bation from physicians, while at the same time their 
harmlessness in many cases is conceded. 

Of late years the ancient fashion has revived, which 
sets store by light hair beyond all other. The exact 
hue desired approaches that of a silver alloy of gold, 
or still more precisely, that of clean, well-cured, bright, 
wheaten straw. From the most remote ages, this hue, 
no doubt because of its similarity to that of the most 



284 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

precious of metals, has been held in high esteem. In 
Carthage, before Cato had carried into act his oft- 
repeated threat, the belles and fops had devised some 
art, now lost, to change their natural black locks to 
a golden yellow. 

Rome under the empire was seized with the same 
mania. When dyeing did not suffice, quite a trade 
was started with the fair-haired German tribes beyond 
the Alps, who sold their locks to Latin merchants, to 
be worn on the heads of Roman dandies. All through 
the Middle Ages, we discover proofs of the same taste. 

The Spanish and Italian ladies of the fifteenth cen- 
tury dampened their black tresses with muriatic acid, 
and sate in the sun to bleach it to the coveted yellow. 
Therefore Don Quixote describes his Dulcinea as hav- 
ing " hair the color of gold," and Dante commences 
one of his Canzone with the line — 

" Io miro i crespi e gli biondi capegli." 

Shakspeare in his Sonnets tells us such was the value 
of yellow hair in his day, that even that of the dead 
was cut off and sold : — 

" Before the golden tresses of the dead, 

The right of sepulchres, were shorn away, 
To live a second life on second head ; 
Ere beauty's dead fleece made another gay," etc. 

At times, fine gold thread was worn in place of hair. 
Thus, history informs us that when Charles the Bold, 



GOLDEN HAIR FLUIDS. ~ 285 

Duke of Burgundy, had met his death in battle with 
the Swiss, his body was taken from the ditch where it 
was found, and interred with princely pomp. On his 
face he wore instead of the natural growth, a long 
heard of golden thread. 

The ancient method of producing this color artifi- 
cially is lost, but a score of others have risen in its 
place. Those that produce the best effect are likewise 
the most critical to use, and are probably injurious. 
We have before us the analyses of four of the most 
popular " golden-hair fluids," " warranted to impart a 
rich, golden, flaxen shade, to hair of any color after a 
few applications." They are all alike, and are all but 
modern adaptations of the plan of the Spanish damsels 
three hundred years ago, which we have mentioned 
above. The active ingredient in all of them is muri- 
atic acid, which they contain in about the proportion 
of twenty drops of the "officinal" dilute nitro-muriatic 
acid to the ounce of distilled water. Coloring matter 
and aromatic substances make up the remainder of 
these magic preparations. IsTo doubt they would effect 
the purpose for which they are intended, but whether 
they would do so without hurting the skin or hair is 
less certain. • 

The acid thus weakened does not irritate an ordinary 
skin, it is true, but doubtless would one which was 
delicate. We have not had the opportunity to ascer- 
tain whether they cause falling of the hair. Those 



286 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

willing to take the risk can use them, as no bad results 
to the general health follow the external application of 
a weak solution of this acid. On the contrary, it is a 
useful addition to a bath for " bilious" persons. 

If persons will use a golden dye, this is the one we 
recommend. Many of the others contain a salt of 
mercury (the yellow sulphuret), or one of lead (the 
acetate, nitrate, or yellow chromate), or of antimony 
(the yellow sulphuret), all of which are poisonous and 
objectionable. 

ON FALSE HAIR, CHIGNONS, ETC. 

The most crabbed moralist, we presume, will hardly 
object to false hair in the shape of a wig — but when it 
comes to a " chignon," or a " rat," or a " curl," the 
offence is singularly ^apparent. We confess to a want 
of power to see this difference, and believe that if it is 
proper in the one instance to improve the looks by the 
use of borrowed locks, so it is in the other. Women 
are quite right to wear what amount of false hair they 
need to dress their heads becomingly. 

The trade in human hair is a very important branch 
of commerce. It has increased more than fourfold 
within the last twelve years, and yet the demand so far 
exceeds the supply that the prices have also increased 
fourfold. In Philadelphia, where we write, a good- 
sized braid of very choice hair, weighing about sixteen 



PRICE OF HAIR. 287 

ounces, costs from five to ten dollars the ounce, as we 
learn from dealers. 

These may seem exorbitant figures, but if we com- 
pare them with the prices in former generations, we 
find they are not at all unparalleled. A story is told 
in the Percy Anecdotes of the Countess of Suffolk, in 
the reign of George I. She was visiting with her hus- 
band the Court of Hanover, and, as is not unfrequent 
with travellers, they ran out of money at some town 
where they had no acquaintances. The Countess had, 
however, magnificent hair, and as she was a shifty 
woman, she sent for the most fashionable friseur, and 
sold it to him for the amount of twenty pounds sterling, 
a sum equal in value to a hundred and fifty dollars in 
gold to-day. 

We have found even higher figures than this, much 
higher, obtained for fine hair. One instance is re- 
corded of about the same date, where one hundred 
pounds sterling was paid for an uncommonly fine 
head. This eclipses any price we have heard quoted 
in our day. 

The chief cause why some colors are so much dearer 
than others, is the great difficulty of dyeing the hair 
after it is cut. It is next to impossible to persuade it 
to take the bright, delicate, glossy hues most admired. 

A century ago the hair trade depended chiefly on 
wig-making. It was de rigueur that every gentleman 
should wear an immense wig when in full dress. On 



288 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 






one occasion Lord Bolingbroke was sent for in haste 
by Queen Anne about some pressing public business. 
Aware of its importance, he hurried to her presence 
without taking time to change his wig, which was a 
"tie," and not a "full-bottomed" one, as he should 
have worn on entering such august presence. The 
Queen noticed the neglect, and after he was gone, pet- 
tishly exclaimed : — 

" I suppose his lordship will come next time in his 
night-cap." 

The trade of the perruquier in those days was by 
odds the most important of the cosmetic callings. 
These old-fashioned wigs are still retained in England 
by judges on the bench, and, singularly enough, by 
the liveried footmen of the wealthy. No one else 
dreams of wearing them. 

The demand for hair now comes chiefly from the 
ladies, and the commodity is made up not so much in 
the shape of wigs, toupees, etc., as into braids, curls, 
chignons, etc. The London trade-reports, however, 
showed that during our civil war a brisk business was 
carried on in false whiskers and moustaches. It com- 
menced at the beginning and dropped off at the end of 
our war. It puzzled the Londoners to account for 
this sudden and large demand, as well as for its equally 
sudden cessation when our armies were disbanded. 

As, in following our destiny, it so happened that 
during most of the war we held a position in the army 



GREGARINES. 289 

which let us into divers secrets of the service, the so- 
lution of the puzzle was easy enough to us. There 
were, in the first place, thousands of spies, secret 
agents, and fugitives, both men and women, who re- 
sorted to these artifices for disguise. Secondly, and 
here the bulk of the trade was, very many officers, es- 
pecially in cities, were accustomed to be absent without 
leave, and to frequent places where they did not wish 
to be recognized by their superiors, or by the enlisted 
men of their commands. Hence, they kept by them 
a citizen's dress and these disguises, for use on such 
escapades. This we know was a very general habit. 

A few years ago an absurd clamor was raised by 
some sensational papers about the alleged discovery ox 
minute ova — nits, in^plain terms — on the hair sold for 
chignons. It was asserted that any one who wore 
them exposed her head to the invasion of very unwel- 
come guests of the insect kind. Small masses called 
gregarines were pointed out on some hair as these pre- 
tended ova. There was not a word of scientific truth 
in all this. The methods employed to prepare hair 
for market will certainly clean it thoroughly from 
all such impurities, and the gregarines, when examined 
by competent microscopists, turn out to be nothing 
but very minute fungi, entirely harmless to the skin, 
and also very rarely met with on false hair of any 
kind. 

25 



290 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

FALLING OF THE HAIR, AND BALDNESS. 

Hitherto we have spoken of the hair in health. We 
shall now review its most common diseases, and give 
their home treatment. 

The scalp is subject to most of the affections which 
attack other portions of the skin, and also to some 
which are peculiar to itself. Some of them are unusu- 
ally obstinate, and most of them are less easily treated 
on account of the covering of hair and the feeble circu- 
lation on the top of the head. 

More common than any single one of these diseases 
is a gradual falling or thinning of the hair, without 
visible cause. It occurs usually between the ages of 
twenty and thirty, and in women more frequently than 
in men. Sometimes it commences during pregnancy, 
or in the late summer. The hair is reproduced very 
slowly, and has a dry, withered look, the partings 
become more and more visible, and finally there is an 
unmistakable tendency to a bald spot on the crown. 

Such a state of things causes well-founded alarm, 
and one " hair-restorer 7 ? after another, mentioned in 
the newspapers and on bill-posters, is tried, and tried 
in vain. The young lady becomes distressed at the 
prospect of baldness, and is ready to take advantage 
of any means that will restore the glossy locks of yore. 
Let us see what we can do to assist her. 

This thinning of the hair arises from some definite 



CAUSES OF BALDNESS. 291 

ause — be sure of that ; and be sure that if the cause 
Ls removed the hair will regain its vigor. The cause 
may lie in the condition of the scalp itself, or, so inti- 
mate is the sympathy of all parts of this Ibody of ours, 
it may depend upon the disturbed action of some re- 
mote internal organ. 

It may seem strange to say that dyspepsia is a fre- 
quent cause of loss of hair — yet this is undoubtedly 
true, and no tonics or restorers will do a particle of 
good until the dyspepsia is cured. Complaints pecu- 
liar to the sex are another fertile cause, and general 
debility brought about by watching, overwork, bad air, 
or irregular habits, is likewise often to blame. These 
general disorders must be remedied by a timely course 
of medicine, the blood must be purified, the secretions 
regulated, the skin brought into healthy action, and 
then we can with great confidence go to work on the 
head itself. 

If the scalp is very carefully examined with a lens, 
it will usually be found in such cases not so healthy as 
it looks at first sight. There will appear some dryness, 
or scurfiness, or irritability ; the roots of the hairs will 
be found reddened and spongy ; the surface will feel 
hot ; some odor other than natural will be perceived. 
It may be that while all seems sound to the naked eye, 
the microscope will at once reveal a wide-spread local 
disease. 

Supposing the scurfiness to be slight, and no erup- 



292 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

tion present, the treatment must be commenced by a 
gentle wash in tepid water with Castile or sulphur 
soap. No harsh soap must be used, and secret or ran- 
cid applications must be avoided. The head once 
cleaned, it should for a fortnight be oiled night. and 
morning with a small quantity of the following mix- 
ture, which should be brushed into the skin with a soft 
tooth-brush : — 

Take— 

Of pure glycerine three drachms ; 
Lime-water four ounces. 

This will bring the skin into a more healthy condition, 
and prepare it for the advantageous use of a stimu- 
lating wash, which it is not well to employ at the outset. 
There are hundreds of these washes or hair tonics 
advertised, very few of which deserve any praise. The 
prices charged for them are high, the materials are 
often dangerous, and of inferior quality. In place of 
them, we shall give several receipts for approved tonics 
which we have used in our own practice with satisfac- 
tion, and which can be obtained from any apothecary. 
After two weeks the above mentioned formula can 
be used with the addition of half an ounce of tincture 
of cantharides, and later with one ounce of the tinc- 
ture. The brushing should be more persistent, enough 
to bring a slight redness to the surface. Or the follow- 
ing lotion may be employed : — 



HAIR-TONICS. 293 

Take— 

Of castor oil one ounce ; 

Liquor of ammonia (strong) one ounce ; 

Best French brandy two ounces ; 

Rose water six ounces. 

This should not be used more frequently than every 
other day. The following may be applied morning and 
evening : — ■ 

Strong decoction of Peruvian bark half a pint ; 
Brandy wineglassful • 

Glycerine tablespoonful. 

We have also seen the following " home recipe" do 
good service : — 

Old whiskey half a pint ; 

Rock salt as much as will dissolve ; 

Glycerine a tablespoonful ■ 

Flour of sulphur a teaspoonful. 

The Rev. John Wesley used to recommend in threat- 
ened baldness to rub the scalp with the freshly-cut 
surface of a raw onion. As this is quite an active 
stimulant, the advice is unquestionably sound, though 
the application is certainly not elegant. Water in 
which mustard has been boiled, the juice of horserad- 
ish, the spirits of garden thyme and rosemary, and 
many similar articles have local popularity as hair 
tonics. They all depend for their virtues on the power 
they have to stimulate the scalp. Probably the lotions 
we have given above are better than any of them. 

25* 



294 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

A very effectual stimulant, and one we especially 
recommend on account of the ease and neatness with 
which ladies with long hair can have it applied, and 
the excellent effects it has, is electricity, or its modifi- 
cation, galvanism. A current of moderate force should 
be passed through the scalp for fifteen or twenty 
minutes daily. This excites the action of the blood- 
vessels, and restores the nervous force to the part. It 
may be regarded, when judiciously and regularly 
applied, as at once the most efficient and the neatest 
hair tonic known, where local debility is the trouble. 
Nor does its use interfere with the other means which 
we have suggested. 

Finally, shaving the head may be resorted to. This, 
as we have previously said, is not approved by many, 
and there are no doubt numerous cases where it would 
be ill advised. Nor can it be expected to have marked 
results, unless other means are also employed. The 
shaving should be performed once a week for at least 
three months, in order to obtain its full effect, and in 
the meantime the scalp should be stimulated daily by 
electricity, the cold bath, frictions with strong lini- 
ments, or brushing. When all these are attended to, 
as well as the general health, there is a very good 
chance that one or the other will prove efficacious, and 
the hair be materially strengthened. 

Even when baldness has actually appeared, the case 
is not always desperate. If the victim has patience, 



BALDNESS. 295 

she may recover a very respectable share of hair by 
the diligent employment of the same means. Some 
physicians commence by blistering the bald scalp, so 
as to restore it to a more vigorous life, and the result 
often proves the wisdom of the proceeding. The same 
end may be attained by vigorous inunction of tincture 
of cantharides, or oil of cajuput, which latter has a 
high reputation as a trichogene. 

That variety of baldness which appears in entirely 
bare spots over the head, while the hair around them is 
as thick as ever (alopecia areata), may often be healed 
with great promptness by rubbing thoroughly into the 
spots every morning and evening a little oil of turpen- 
tine. The bareness should cease extending after a few 
days, and after a few weeks small downy hairs should 
be perceptible, rising on the white skin. This is one 
of those venerable remedies which we find mentioned 
in writers as far back as the Roman empire, and which 
every few years some person, in ignorance of its 
antiquity, discovers anew, and makes loud laudations 
of it. But this only goes to show that it is really a 
trusty application. 

DANDRIFF, AND SCURF OF THE SCALP. 

When one brushes and combs the most healthy hair 
which has been neglected for a few days, more or less 
fine whitish scales will be brushed out, such as we are 
very apt to see on the coat-collars of gentlemen too 



296 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

busy or too careless to dust their clothes. This is 
called dandriff, and is simply the scarf-skin which has 
served its time, and has been thrown off, as it constantly 
is from every part of the body. Its presence in mode- 
rate quantities signifies nothing, except as an admoni- 
tion to greater cleanliness. 

When, however, this branny dust becomes quite con- 
spicuous in amount, it betokens some disease of the 
skin. A close examination may reveal several reddish 
patches over the head, with irregular but well-defined 
outlines surrounded with a red margin, which patches 
are covered with minute white scales, and have a 
slightly itchy feeling. The hair upon them is thin and 
weakened, showing dry and flattened under the micro- 
scope, if they have been of long standing. This is the 
complaint called in medical works pityriasis capitis. 
It is very common, and is a fertile cause of loss of the 
hair. 

If it is taken early, the following ointment well rub- 
bed on the spots every morning, after the skin has 
been carefully cleaned by soap and water, will effect a 
speedy cure : — 

Powdered borax a scruple ; 

Dilute solution of subacetate of lead two drachms ; 

Clean lard one ounce ; 

Otto of roses, or any scent a few drops. 

Or the first two ingredients may be dissolved in 
three ounces of rain-water, and half an ounce of gly- 
cerine. 



SOME SERIOUS TROUBLES. 29T 

In old and obstinate cases, some internal medicine 
may be necessary, but often the above, or the use of 
the wash containing spirits of ammonia, given in the 
last section, will answer. The diet must be looked to. 
It should be plain, but sufficient, without coffee, 
liquors, or anything heating, and half a bottle or a 
bottle of citrate of magnesia should be taken once or 
twice a week according to circumstances. By these 
means, continued for some time after the red patches 
have disappeared, persons will rarely fail in curing 
themselves. 

At other times, close inspection will show that the 
scales of dandriff proceed from minute vesicles which 
rise on the skin, break, and dry up. They are very 
apt to escape attention altogether, unless they are 
searched for. This is a condition of eczema, as it is 
called, and will be sure to be followed by the loss of 
the hair in time. 

Or again, a common aspect of neglected hair is one 
presenting little patches on which a yellowish mass of 
scales are collected, not dry and branny, but oily, or 
hardened into crusts. 

Both these conditions must be referred to the family 
physician, as they require too active medicines for 
home treatment. 

This is also the case with those common complaints 
of children, "scalled head," and "ring-worm," both of 
which lead to destruction of the hair and baldness. 



298 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

Whenever there seems a tendency to any disease of 
the kind we have described, it is well to use in washing 
the head — which should be done twice a week — a soap 
medicated with juniper tar or carbolic acid. These 
soaps can be obtained from most apothecaries. It is 
not well to comb or brush violently the hair, when there 
is such an inflammatory condition present. First let 
the disease be cured, and the skin resume its healthy 
action, before it is stimulated. For the same reason it 
is a serious blunder which many commit, to apply at 
once hair tonics or pomades containing stimulating 
substances to their scalps already in a state of irrita- 
tion. On the contrary, cooling lotions or soothing 
ointments are required until the irritation is removed, 
and then the circulation and innervation of the parts 
should be encouraged, if they require it. Frequently, 
without any such means being called in, the hair, as 
soon as freed from the disease, against which it has 
been battling, will at once commence to grow thick and 
strong. 

EXCESSIVE GROWTH OF HAIR, AND DEPILATORIES. 

There is such a thing as having too much hair, as 
well as too little, and the tendency is particularly de- 
structive to beauty, when it displays itself on uncovered 
portions of the body, where hair ought not to grow. 
Not unfrequently the front hair encroaches on the fore- 
head, injuring its outlines and imprinting a coarse 



VNSEEML Y HA IRS. 299 

expression on the features. The neck may be over- 
grown by a short unmanageable growth. The eyebrows 
are occasionally connected by scattered bristles. In 
brunettes, especially, there is liability to the appearance 
of a delicate moustache on the upper lip, and a devel- 
opment of coarseish dark hair on the forearms. After 
a certain age, particularly in single women, both chin 
and upper lip are apt to be invaded by a short beard, 
not at all attractive. Moles and birth-marks are usu- 
ally planted with a hairy growth, and in the nostrils 
and the ears a bristly tuft is often found. All these 
are incompatible with good looks, and in the interest 
of beauty should be removed. 

We might add some curious examples of " bearded 
women." They are by no means rare, and hardly a 
season passes by, that one or more are not exhibited 
by some travelling showman. The cause of their pe- 
culiarity seems to lie in an over-excited condition of 
the hair bulbs, which usually commences in youth. 
Julia Pastrana was a Spanish opera dancer of some 
celebrity, who a few years ago visited England and, 
we believe, this country also. She had a fine silken 
beard about four inches in length, and was unusually 
hairy over the whole of her body. Still more curious, 
she had with her a little daughter, but a few years old, 
whose body already showed signs of the Esau-like 
hairiness which characterized her mother. 

Some diseases are accompanied or followed by an 



300 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

extraordinary growth of hair, not only on the head, 
but over the whole body. This is occasionally observa- 
ble in consumptives, after violent fevers, and in the 
course of diseases peculiar to the sex. The fact offers 
us another opportunity for remarking, that the conside- 
ration of the hair and its diseases can never be sepa- 
rated from the study of the physiology and maladies 
of the whole body. 

The Oriental ladies have a horror of superfluous 
hairs, and destroy them with the most sedulous care, 
Therefore the cosmetic science of Western Europe 
which was a creation of later date, first learned th 
secret of depilatories, or hair-removing compounds, 
from their Eastern neighbors. 

The preparation chiefly used in the Asiatic harems 
is called the rusma. For a long time its composition 
was unknown, but now-a-days it is not easy to conceal 
the ingredients of a mixture from the prying eyes of 
the chemist. The true Oriental rusma has been care- 
fully analyzed, and found to be composed of a form of 
arsenic, called arsenical iron pyrites, and quicklime, in 
the proportion of two parts of the former to one part 
of the latter, both in fine powder. 

It is imitated by mixing one part of the yellow sul- 
phuret of arsenic, known in commerce as orpiment, 
with quicklime, and powdered starch. This is made 
into a paste with water, and laid on the part from 
which it is intended to remove the hair. As soon as 



; 



HAIR REMOVERS. 301 

much smarting is felt, the paste is removed by washing 
with tepid water, and the hairs will come away with 
it. Unless this is done skilfully, however, an ugly 
scar may be left, or the system poisoned b} T the arsenic. 
We therefore warn our readers against using this or 
any depilatory, of which they do not know the com- 
position, as most of the latter, whether they deny it or 
not, contain some arsenical salt. We shall give some 
more innocent and quite efficient formulae, which will 
answer as well or better than the imitation of rusma. 

The safest of all chemical depilatories is what is 
called the sulphydrate of calcium — • 

Take— 

Of sulphuret of calcium two parts.; 
Quicklime one part. 

Powder them separately, mix, and keep in a well- 
stopped bottle. When wanted for use, make into a 
paste with a little water, and spread on the part. Let 
it remain for fifteen minutes, or until it smarts, and 
then wash off with soap and tepid water. 

Another equally safe, recommended by the distin- 
guished French surgeon Cazenave, is : — 

Quicklime one part ; 

Carbonate of soda two parts ; 
Lard eight parts. 

Mix to form an ointment. 

These do not answer in every case, and the former 

26 



302 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

on sensitive skins may leave an unpleasant though tem- 
porary redness. 

Professor Redwood some years since lauded in very 
high terms a strong solution of the sulphuret of ba- 
rium as a depilatory. When used, it must be mixed 
rapidly with finely-powdered starch, and applied to the 
part. Its application demands skill and care, and with 
these, it is a very good depilatory. 

But all the barium salts are poisonous, and though 
this is undoubtedly an efficient preparation, as there 
are other and innocuous means, we advise them to be 
patronized in place of others. 

In preference to any of these chemical depilatories 
we prefer the mechanical. This is simply pulling the 
hairs out " by the roots." This has an alarming sound, 
and suggests torture. But there is no occasion for 
terror. If properly performed, the operation is pain- 
less. Pine tweezers, or " ciliary forceps," may be used, 
and the sensation of the part previously blunted by 
pressing against it firmly a piece of ice, or allowing 
the spray of ether to fall upon it for a few seconds. 

An old-fashioned method for heroic beauties used to 
be to press firmly upon the part a piece of shoemaker's 
wax, in which the hairs would become firmly imbedded, 
and then jerk it away, hairs and all! This demands 
an amount of heroism to which modern belles are rarely 
equal, and modern chemistry, therefore, ever obedient 
to the demands of its queens, has contrived a composi- 



THE BEST DEPILATORY. 303 

tion Yfhich is destined, we think, to supersede most 
other depilatories on account of the ease with which 
it is applied, its painlessness, and its satisfactory 
results. 

It is resin tempered with wax, with the addition of 
a strong anodyne. The mixture is melted and run 
into sticks, like sealing wax. The end of one of these 
sticks is softened and warmed by bringing it near a 
candle, but is not allowed to become hot enough to burn 
the skin, and is pressed firmly on the hairy spot for 
about a minute. It is then suddenly pulled away, 
bringing the hair with it, and this ivithout any pain. 
The only skill required is to heat the end of the stick 
to the proper point, so that it will hold firmly the hairs, 
and not scorch the skin. 

As this psilothron, as it is called, is at present not 
manufactured in this country, so far as we know, we 
have called the attention of some of the dealers in toi- 
let articles to it, so that it can now be obtained through 
several merchants in this and other cities. 

We do not advise using it, or any other depilatory, 
for the hairs in the nostrils or in the ears. These are 
very sensitive parts of our body, in the vicinity of 
delicate and important organs, which it is not well to 
imperil in the least. A thin-bladed and blunt-pointed 
pair of scissors should be used to clip the growth in 
these spots from time to time, but only when they are 
unusually coarse. For these are the natural veils and 



304 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

dust-catchers, which wise Nature has hung at the en- 
trance to these cavities. 

THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE HAIR. 

"The arrangement of the hair! Why, that is mat- 
ter for a barber, or a dressing-maid. We leave it to 
them, and to the fashion-plate makers." 

» The worse for you if you do, for it is simply throw- 
ing away one of the most potent means of enhancing 
the natural charms. The ancients, passionate lovers 
of beauty, with souls ever sensitive of its sweet con- 
cords, did not so. They thought it no derogation to 
bestow on the disposition of the locks thought and 
study. Neither do we. 

The symbol-loving minds of the Greeks saw in the 
various modes of wearing the hair the expression of 
different temperaments, and ever strove to adopt that 
which was at once in the most perfect harmony with 
the features, and with the character of the individuals. 
Let us try to obtain, if we can, some #nall share of 
their artistic power, some partial insight into that won- 
drou* world of beauty which they saw surrounding the 
daily life of this work-a-day world, where we, alas, see 
little but hard facts and homely fancies. How much 
will be our gain if we learn to see the beautiful, not 
only in galleries of statuary and paintings, but in the 
forms of daily life ! 

Perhaps, after all, we have more of this insight than 




THE TOILET, 200 YEARS AGO. 



SYMBOLISM OF THE HAIR. 305 

one might at first think. Some one asked the sculptor 
Phidias, whence he drew the inspiration which guided 
him in his statue of the Olympian Jupiter. He re- 
plied, " In the verses of Homer." And we do not fail 
to recognize in the masses of locks which crown the 
head of that wondrous work, the hair, which, in the 
Homeric poems, shakes, by its movement, Olympus it- 
self. So Christian art, recognizing the subtle harmony 
which exists between the disposition of the hair and 
the character, ever portrays the meek and lowly Mes- 
siah with blonde or light brown hair, resting in tranquil 
waves over a forehead whereon reign a celestial serenity 
and a more than human benignity, and falling upon 
the drooping shoulders which bore the bitter Cross of 
Calvary. Can any point in these two conceptions of 
divinity bring more clearly to the appreciative mind 
the difference between the heathen and the Christian 
faith? 

Ancient art in all its creations looked to this element 
of the beautiful. The Furies, Medea, Gorgon, are 
portrayed with wild and dishevelled locks, but the 
queenly Yenus of Milo, and the Venus de Medici, have 
abundant, slightly curly, gently waving hair, suited 
to the repose of perfect beauty. 

Such facts as these, if well considered, point to a 
theory of hair-dressing which as yet the friseurs know 
nothing about, and the ladies of the great world are 
far from appreciating. But do not think that we have 

26* 



306 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

any idea of advancing and explaining this theory. 
Far from it. We have already disclaimed any inten- 
tion to be reformers. It is not a trade to our taste. 
Nevertheless, in a gentle and modest way, we would 
like to offer a few hints on this matter, and won't feel 
in the least offended if they are passed over with quiet 
nonchalance, for that is a fate we expect for them. 

These are to the effect that in the selection of a 
frisure, as in that of colors, a lady should take into 
account her complexion, her stature, her features, and 
her expression, and so arrange the hair as to heighten 
and give greater prominence to the most favorable 
parts of these, and conceal or diminish any defect 
which they may present. Precisely in the same man- 
ner as two clever artists have spoken of the law of hues 
when adapted to dress, 1 so would we speak of the hair. 
If we are asked to apply these principles, and state 
exactly which modes of arrangement are most becom- 
ing, we hesitate to do so, partly, perhaps, out of diffi- 
dence, partly because we do not think it quite germain 
to our present theme. We shall not hesitate, however, 
to express in general terms what in the interest of a 
sound hygiene should be the characteristics of every 
coiffure. It should exert no violence on the hairs, but 

1 Color in Dress : A Manual for Ladies. By W. & G. 
Audsley. (Philadelphia, published by George Maclean.) This 
valuable little book merits a careful study by every woman 
who would dress to the best advantage. 



HOW TO DRESS THE HAIR. 307 

allow them to lay as much as possible in their natural 
folds ; it should not twist the hairs tightly, nor sepa- 
rate them in a great many bands, but fold them loosely, 
and allow them to be well aired ; it should not keep the 
hairs in one position, especially if that be an unnatural 
one, for any great length of time ; it should never im- 
part to the features an ignoble or fatuous expression ; 
it should not imitate one of the lower varieties of our 
race, and still less should it resemble the disposition of 
the hair on any of the inferior animals ; it should aim at 
simplicity, not require much network or artifices to 
keep it in position, not heat the head, nor strain the 
hairs, nor be of much weight ; it should neither oblige 
the wearer to expose the half-protected or quite un- 
covered scalp to the sun and blasts, nor yet by its 
thickness prevent the ventilation and unobstructed 
passage of secretions necessary to the health of the 
hair-bulb. In short, as the English balladist sings : — 

"Hair loosely flowing, robes as free, 
Such sweet neglect more pleaseth me, 
Than all the trickeries of art 
Which strike the eye, but not the heart. " 

There is nothing new in these views. " The charac- 
teristics of beautiful hair," says a distinguished writer 
on the subject, " have ever been what they are now. 
The simple natural arrangement of the hair has the 
same charms for us that the ancients conceded it. 
jSTone but the artists of the Middle Ages could perceive 



308 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

any beauty in stiff and formal styles, and with them it 
was owing to an ascetic exaltation which led them to 
quench in feminine beauty everything which pertained 
to passion and the senses, and to portray their seraphic 
ideals without a soft curve or a graceful touch to re- 
lieve their sainted immobility." 

We may add some advice about the propriety — in 
an artistic sense — of making use of coloring matters 
for the hair when gray, and on the employment of false 
hair and wigs. The story is related of the Emperor 
Augustus, that on one occasion he found his daughter 
Julia undergoing the operation of having her gray 
hairs plucked from her head by her tire-woman. 
" Would you prefer, my daughter," said the Emperor, 
" to be gray, or to be bald ?" She replied that grayness 
was more to her mind. " Then," rejoined her father, 
"why do you adopt the most certain means to be 
bald?" The Emperor's question has a wider applica- 
tion, for many a one, eagerly recurring to some of the 
advertised means of darkening the hair, have learned 
only too late that thereby they have exchanged gray- 
ness for baldness. 

There are some faces which are decidedly improved 
by gray hair. They acquire a dignity and attractive- 
ness, which they never previously had. Like some 
landscapes, their charms are greatest when covered 
with the snows of the winter time of life. Such faces 
should never be marred by dyed hair. 



WORDS ON WIGS. 309 

It is contrary to all good taste to have the hair dis- 
play the raven hue of youth when the marks of age 
are conspicuous on the face and the figure. For this 
reason, if it is decided to wear a wig, one should be 
chosen which suits with the whole appearance, and not 
simply with the desire to give to the top of the head 
an air of juvenility which is flatly contradicted by all 
other parts of the person. 

Wigs, to speak of them a little more at length, 
should be as light as possible, readily permeable to the 
exterior air, so that the functions of the skin are not 
interfered with. They should not be too firmly fast- 
ened to the scalp, and they should be removed as fre- 
quently as possible, lest their warmth or weight lead 
to some eruption or other disease of the skin beneath. 
There is no call for their use merely for grayness, and 
when they are worn merely for the sake of allowing the 
hairs to gain strength by repeated shaving, the precau- 
tions we have mentioned, most of which have been 
already urged by Professor Cazenave in his excellent 
treatise on the hair, should be redoubled. 



THE BEARD. 



HOW TO WEAR THE BEARD. 



11 /TOST of our counsels hitherto on this subject of 
-^-*- beauty are as applicable to the one as the other 
sex. If we have spoken as though it were solely the 
more beautiful half of the race we were addressing, it 
has been out of gallantry, and not because our advice 
is suited to them alone. Like the popular lecturer, we 
address our audience as " Ladies and Gentlemen," let- 
ting the lords come last ; like the heralds at the an- 
cient tournaments, we have approached with the cry, 
"Place aux dames." But the laws of beauty are the 
same in spirit, applied to all mankind. 

Now, however, we have a few words to say to the 
male sex on the hygiene and artistic arrangement of 
that natural characteristic peculiarly their own — the 
beard. 

We broach the subject with a becoming sense of its 
importance, for the beard is no indifferent matter. All 
(310) 



HOW TO WEAR THE BEARD. 31 J 

nations agree to that. The Chinese say that Confucius 
owed his wisdom to the length of his beard. When 
he died, it was cut from his face, and is still preserved. 
"That is why," say the Celestials, "we, his disciples, 
continue to be the wisest people under the sun.' 7 

The Koran forbids the true believer to cut the hair 
on his face. "By the beard of the Prophet," is a sol- 
emn oath among the Moslems. Nevertheless, Selim 
L, Sultan of Turkey, dared to disobey the command 
of the Koran, and imitated the dogs of Pranks by ap- 
pearing with a clean-shaven chin. The mufti repri- 
manded him for his wickedness. " I cut it," replied 
the Sultan, "to prevent my visier leading me by it." 

From a cosmetic point of view, the cut and care of 
the beard stamp at once the man. As it is worn, it is 
either the greatest ornament or the most signal mar- 
plot to the countenance. You can often tell at a 
glance whether the wearer has taste and an artistic 
eye, or is utterly devoid of both. Many a man who 
would with a properly cut beard be prepossessing, if 
not handsome, gives himself the appearance of a clown, 
a fop, or a baboon, by ignorance on this essential 
point. 

Each individual here must judge for himself, but 
there are certain rules he must never transgress. We 
will mention a few of them. They are founded on 
those same laws of beauty on which we have been 
harping so much. One of them is, that the face should 



312 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

present, when seen from in front, a general, oval out- 
line from above downward. This can be greatly aided 
hy the beard. If the face is round, the beard on the 
chin should be cultivated ; if long and thin, then side- 
whiskers are appropriate. A person with a flat, broad 
nose should never wear a moustache, nor should one 
with a very short and thin upper lip, as in the former 
case it gives a brutish, in the latter an ignoble aspect to 
the features. Still less should a person with retreat- 
ing forehead or chin cultivate this style of beard, as it 
gives the profile a yet more unfavorable outline. 

A bald-headed man should not wear a heavy beard, 
as the contrast is ludicrous. A full beard, however 
natural it is, is not suitable to him who has but a 
sparse, - hungry, and irregular growth on his face, nor 
to him whose beard sprouts out crooked, bristly, and 
harsh. Unfortunately, a face scarred with smallpox 
hardly ever can support a fine beard. The hair bulbs 
seem never to recover their strength after that disease. 
No style of beard should be worn which is strange, 
eccentric, or vulgar. This is a precept singularly dis- 
regarded in " the best society" (bless us). But this is 
but another proof (if we needed another) that the best 
society often takes snobbery for good taste. For 
example, long tails to the beard or whiskers, fantastic 
curls to the ends of the hair, fantastic shapes to the 
patches of hair allowed to grow, or immense length and 
size of any portion of the beard, are all quite as foreign 



STYLES OF THE BEARD. 313 

to any true sense of beauty, as the tattooing of the 
savage or the striped face of the clown. Nor should 
any cut of hair or beard be adopted which assimilates 
— as many of them do — the divine human face to that 
of the lower animals, making it a caricature of that of 
some brute. 

Fashion, indeed, has at various times sanctioned 
many quaint and curious stj^les, as we may readily see 
by walking clown some long gallery of old portraits, for 
instance, that at Versailles, and we might fill many 
pages- with descriptions of the vagaries so brought to 
our notice. The virtuosi in such matters have de- 
lighted to arrange and classify these styles under 
various names, often drawn from some great man, who 
affected a peculiar cut. Thus, we have the Bliicher 
moustache, long and overhanging throughout its whole 
length ; the Gustavus Adolphus moustache, waxed and 
with the ends straight; the Yandyck moustache, in 
which a triangular piece of the upper lip just at its centre 
is shaved clean ; the T beard, often mentioned in Eng- 
lish writers of the seventeenth century, so called be- 
cause the moustache was waxed, and worn only with a 
narrow goatee, giving the shape when seen in front of 
a capital T. 

But it is not with such follies that our business lies, 
or we might never get through. For even as far back 
as 1660, an old English ballad writer exclaims : — 

27 



314 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

4 Now of beards there be 
Such a company, 

Of fashions such a throng, 
That it is very hard 
To treat of the beard, 

Tho' it be ne'er so long." 

In a general way, only, do we care to call the atten- 
tion of our friends to the fact tjiat unless they wear 
their beard of the proper cut, not only do they throw 
away an important element of good-looks (which often 
aid a man so much in life), but they leave room for a 
just doubt about their taste in other matters of deeper 
moment. A well-shaped whisker has been worth money 
to many a man. There was Juan de Castro, for ex- 
ample, a sturdy fighter of Portugal in the days of 
Queen Catherine. He had command of a regiment in 
India, and did good service there. Once he ran out 
of money and out of food, so that it seemed as if his 
troops must disband or starve. But Juan had a re- 
source which no general had ever before thought of. 
He cut off one of his whiskers, sent it to the city of 
Goa, and asked the ruler of that place to take it as 
security for a loan of a thousand pistoles. " I value 
that whisker," wrote Captain Juan, " at ten times the 
sum I ask you for, so you need not doubt but that I 
shall repay you." He got his loan, and what is not 
less singular to us, who are such strangers to the 
Spanish pun d'onorc, in due time he redeemed his 
whisker. 



SHAVE EARLY. 315 

Let no style be chosen simply because it is the fash- 
ion, or out of a foolish desire to imitate somebody else. 
Moustaches are much in vogue now, but, as we have 
hinted, they are far from suiting every face. Neither 
need our young friends think, as they so often do, that 
such an ornament enhances their powers with the other 
sex. We don't acknowledge, in this country, the Ger- 
man proverb, that Ein Kuss ohne Schnurrbart, ist ivie 
ein Ei ohne Salz. The play of the features, variety 
of expression, often beauty of outline, are concealed by 
the beard, and frequently a smooth face sets off even 
manly charms to the best advantage. 

THE CARE OF THE BEARD. 

A handsome beard is a boon rarely granted hj nature 
to the men of our stock. It requires assiduous culti- 
vation, as a rule, and how to give it this is our present 
theme. Undoubtedly the most efficacious stimulus 
known is frequent shaving, for several years after the 
beard begins to sprout. The earnest desire to sport 
a beard, so common to young men, usually leads them 
to neglect this, and the consequence is, they never ob- 
tain a vigorous growth. Properly, until about the 
age of twenty-five, the razor should be unsparingly 
used. 

We frequently see nostrums advertised "to cause 
the beard to grow." All of them are utterly useless. 
Some of them are at least harmless, but of many of 



31 G PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

them even this cannot be said, for they contain irrita- 
ting ingredients likely to inflame and injure the skin. 
We distinctly warn against the use of any of them. 
Shaving is the only method which has any virtue in it 
by which we can increase the growth of the beard. 

It is an art which all should learn for themselves, as 
it is not wise, especially in travelling, to trust one's self 
to the tender mercies of every barber's boy, and it is 
not pleasant to be lathered with the brush which the 
minute before has been rubbed on the face of we don't 
know whom. A saying of Prince Talleyrand's is here 
in point. One day this celebrated diplomatist was 
dining with the poet Rogers. The latter was inquiring 
about the personal habits of Napoleon Bonaparte, and 
among other things asked whether he shaved himself. 
"Yes," replied the Prince. "A man who inherits a 
kingdom is shaved by another, but one who acquires 
kingdoms shaves himself." 

It is an opinion which we have found expressed by 
some writers on this subject that the beard, to be dis- 
played in its greatest beauty, should never be cut at 
all, even with a scissors, until it has attained a con- 
siderable length. They say that its softness and deli- 
cacy of texture are destroyed by repeated clippings. 
We are unable to say much on this point, as we do not 
remember ever to have seen a beard which had never 
known either razor or scissors. 

When the beard is grown, the same attention should 



A WASH FOR THE BEARD. 31f 

be bestowed upon it in reference to cleanliness, comb- 
ing, and brushing, as on the hair. When thick, it 
should be brushed out every morning with the follow- 
ing mixture, which will keep it clean, and strengthen 
the roots : — 

Take- 
Borax in powder a teaspoonful ; 
Rosemary water half a pint. 

Mix, and keep in a well-corked bottle. 

If the hairs are bristly and uneven, they should be 
carefully trimmed, and one of the pomades may be 
used, sold for the purpose. They are usually of an in- 
nocent character, being a variety of soap perfumed and 
colored to the taste, and often with the addition of a 
little wax to give them greater coherence. 

Care should be taken not to pluck at, twist, pull, or 
rub the beard, as so many have a habit of doing in 
moments of reflection or embarrassment, as thereby 
the hairs are loosed, and soon a rough or ragged ap- 
pearance is produced. 

DISEASES OP THE BEARD. 

There are some diseases which are peculiar to the 
portions of the face covered with hair. The simplest 
of these is dandriff, that excessive deposition of minute 
branny scales which we have already mentioned in con- 
nection with the hair. It can be cured by the means 

there recommended. 

27* 



318 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

Then there is an eruption of numerous little pimples 
on the skin, called acne, to which also we have alluded. 
But- much the most feared is that really distressing 
skin disease known familiarly as barber's itch, or tetter, 
and by physicians as sycosis. It is contagious, and 
can readily be communicated by a shaving brush, and 
even by a razor. It is also very obstinate, and when 
apparently cured, very apt to return. It is, in fact, a 
parasitic growth, which attacks the hair bulb and the 
hair itself. At first a small spot, red and itchy, is seen 
on the skin, and not long after some pimples are 
visible. 

But this disease is much more rare than is usually 
supposed even by physicians, as it is very liable to be 
confounded with two other very similar diseases (acne 
and impetigo). The only cure for it is to pull out the 
hairs, and dress the part with some strong ointment 
destructive of parasitic life, as, for example, one that 
contains carbolic acid. 

Ordinary tetter, on the other hand, is a compara- 
tively simple disease, which will yield readily to proper 
treatment. One of the best applications is oil of tur- 
pentine. This should be painted over the part with a 
camel-hair brush two or three times a day, and allowed 
to remain. Or if it is desired to have a more elegant 
compound, this ointment may be procured and gently 
rubbed in, morning and evening : — 



TETTER IN THE BEARD. 319 

Take— 

Powdered borax a dessertspoonful ; 

Glycerine a teaspoonful ; 

Oil of turpentine a teaspoonful ; 

Clean lard an ounce. 

Mix them well, and add some scented oil. 

If these means do not promptly restore the part to 
health, no time should be lost in consulting a physi- 
cian, as, if the disease is really sycosis, it requires a 
determined contest to force it from the field, and the 
sooner the battle is opened in earnest, the better for the 
sufferer. 

The hair of the face, like that on the head, is liable 
to loss of color and loss of vigor, sometimes, though 
rarely, resulting in bald spots. The treatment of these 
depends upon the nature of the complaint, and is in 
general terms that which we have previously given for 
similar maladies of the hair of the scalp. 



I/ENVOI. 

THE DUTY OF COMELINESS. 

" So, Lady Flora, take my lay, 
And if you find no moral there, 
Go, look in any glass and say, 
What moral is in being fair." 

TTTE are not at all sure that we need to write the 
* * present section. Is it necessary for us to de- 
fend the thesis, that it is the duty of every woman to 
look as pretty as she possibly can, consistently with 
her other duties ? It may be, for there are still some 
among us whose minds, obscured by some lingering 
mist of the Dark Ages, cannot cease imagining that the 
beauty of the body is the snare of the Devil, and the 
cultivation of that beauty little better than burning 
incense on his altar. They do not remember, poor 
souls, that this body of ours is the counterpart of di- 
vinity, but only then, when it is maintained with per- 
fect form and feature. 
( 320 ) 



FAREWELL ADVICE. 321 

If these readers demand a moral to every tale, let 
them learn from the poet whom we have just quoted, 
that there is a moral in simply being fair, that beauty, 
like truth, carries with it its own benison, and deserves 
to be cultivated, as one of the means by which we may 
advance on the road of infinite progress. And this 
cultivation, let us define it closer, let us, leaving gene- 
ralities, see what the individual should do in order to 
secure the greatest degree of comeliness. 

In the first place, then, let her correct the various 
bad habits we have specified, chiefly those of carriage, 
of expression, of want of cleanliness, of false modes of 
dress, of incorrect speech, of injudicious diet, of indo- 
lence. Let her, with Faust, learn the bitter lesson that 
sich entsagen, to refuse one's self, is the first step to 
take; let her, with Wilhelm Meister, join the noble so- 
ciety of Renunciants, who are sure to lead the world. 

Secondly, let her study her own complexion, expres- 
sion, stature, profile, and outline, precisely as an artist 
does those of one of his ideal figures, and with the 
same care and pains as the artist, let her choose for 
herself the contrasting and harmonizing colors, the 
coiffure, the expression, and the manner, best adapted 
to bring out prominently all her natural advantages, 
and throw into the shade all unfavorable traits. This 
may be done, and must be done, without departing so 
far from the prevailing mode as to appear outre or ec- 
centric. 



322 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

Thirdly, let her profit by the lessons she has learned 
in this book about the removal of blemishes on the face 
of beauty. Let unsightly warts and scars be done 
away with, let hairs which injure the appearance be 
destined, the complexion and hair be cultivated in 
accordance with the principles we have laid down, the 
form developed, diminished, or increased by those hy- 
gienic, emotional, and dietetic rules we have given, the 
features and organs of special sense subjected, if need 
be, to the training and the modification of the surgeon, 
and the general health improved under the advice of 
an intelligent physician, the teeth, voice, and even the 
nails attended to, and in fine those numerous cares of 
toilet observed which are by this time familiar to the 
reader. 

If she has clone all this, there will be little need for 
the purely venal cosmetic arts, such as paint, powder, 
patches, or rouge. She will discover that without any 
excessive trouble, or inordinate expense of time or 
money — with a very moderate expenditure of either, 
indeed — her natural charms are enhanced tenfold, and 
just in the same proportion will she have augmented 
that admiration, and attracted that solid esteem which 
make life pleasant. She will learn that health and 
beauty are so nearly synonymous that one cannot have 
the latter without possessing the former, and therefore 
that in the endeavor to acquire comeliness she is also 
on the road to sound mental and physical health. 



THE MORAL OF BEAUTY. 323 

Guided by the precepts of wisdom in passions and in 
tastes, governed by moderation in all things, observing 
scrupulously that cleanliness which is near akin to 
godliness, we perceive as we draw near the close of our 
discourse, that she will find in our story a deeper moral 
than we have yet drawn ; that in the judicious cultiva- 
tion of the house of our soul we cannot help but im- 
prove the inmate, and that a just appreciation of per- 
sonal beauty leads to a contemplation of, and a nearer 
affinity to, that Celestial Beauty, which is so closely 
allied to the Good and the True. 



THE LITERATURE OF BEAUTY. 

A CONVERSATION. 

TT7HEN Moliere had completed a drama, he* was 
* * accustomed to take the manuscript to the 
kitchen, and read it to the old crone who cooked his 
dinners. He always maintained that her suggestions 
were the most valuable he received from any quarter. 

We entertain a similar respect for the literary acu- 
men of the sex, and therefore submitted our papers 
from time to time to one of its members, who is none 
the worse critic because she differs from the dramatist's 
old woman in being young and pretty. During one of 
these conferences, it happened that our friend The Libra- 
rian (old bachelor and conservative) chanced upon us. 

Naturally enough, the conversation found a wider 
field than our modest duodecimo, and from it as a 
starting-point extended over the whole literature of * 
personal beauty, and the cosmetic arts. It began by 
our critic, whom we will here call Portia, saying : — 
(324) 



THE ASTROLOGER. 325 

" I certainly think your book will succeed, because 
it is on so novel a subject.' ' 

"Novel! humph !" interrupted the librarian; "the 
subject is as worn as some of the faces it pretends to 
repair. There are hundreds of volumes on the toilet." 

" It is true," said we. " We cannot claim to be pio- 
neers in this matter." 

" But certainly," rejoined Portia, " you remember 
showing me in the last edition of Brunet's Manuel de 
Libraire, that he only mentions three books on cosmet- 
ics. Here 's Brunet now, and the only titles he gives 
are o*f one in Italian, and two in French." 

The Librarian. — Yes, this one by Le Founder, La 
Decoration d'Humaine Nature et Aornement des 
Dames , is a curious little book, printed in black letter. 
You can see a copy of it in the Philadelphia Library. 
This other, by " Michel de Nostre Dame," is by the 
identical old astrologer who predicted everything that 
has happened since his day, except that he and his 
book should be immortalized by Goethe in Faust. 
You remember the lines : — 

Und dies geheimniss voile Buch, 
Yon Nostradamus eigner Hand, 
1st Dir es nicht Geleit genug ? 

We. — To which question of Faust we must hasten 
to say no, or else people will ask us why we don't re- 
publish Nostradamus' old trash, instead of writing — 

28 



326 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

The Librarian. — Some new trash on the same topic. 
For that matter, Goethe didn't refer to the treatise on 
Fardemens et Senteurs. 

We. — Sir, the subject of cosmetic surgery now takes 
rank as a dignified branch of medicine. Trash is not 
the name for it. Are you aware that Dr. Andry, in 
his Orthopedique, gives it a long chapter ? That Dr. 
Cid, of Paris, published a suggestive treatise on Calli- 
plastique in 1846 ? That Koyer-Collard wrote several 
essays on Organoplastie Hygienique ? That Dr. HirzePs 
Toiletten-Ghemie has already passed through two edi- 
tions? That within a year, Dr. H. Klencke, whose 
titles would occupy a page of our book, has published 
a volume of nigh six hundred pages on Kosmetik? 
That Mr. Cooley, of London, has a bulky octavo of 
eight hundred pages on the same topic ? Not to speak 
of the loads of books on perfumery, and on the anatomy 
of beauty, from Sir Benjamin Brodie down to Professor 
Dussauce, and Mr. Piesse ? And the essays on obesity 
which have multiplied so of late, especially that of Dr. 
Dancel ? 

Portia. — Really, it is not less gratifying than sur- 
prising, to learn that men have given themselves so 
much trouble about improving the looks of us poor 
women. I am afraid we don't appreciate their disinte- 
rested kindness. 

We (ignoring the thrust.) — The story is only half told. 
According to Jacob le Bibliophile, there were published 



THE ACADEMY OF BEAUTY. 327 

in French, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- 
ries, more than one hundred volumes on the secrets of 
beauty, and an indefinite number since. Then there 
are a great many curious treatises in Italian, for the 
Italians were for centuries the most expert poisoners, 
perfumers, cosmetic artists, and physicians in the 
world. 

The Librarian. — Very true. The ladies of Venice 
formed a society in the sixteenth century, and elected 
officers, for the purpose of learning and testing new 
discoveries in the arts of the toilet. Signora Isa- 
bella Cortese was at one time president, and Catherine 
de Medici was proud to be an honorary member. 

Portia. — Why, that reminds me of the Queen of 
Navarre's tribunal of love and beauty. 

The Librarian. — The resemblance is more in name 
than in object. But tell us, Sir Author, whether you 
find much of value in these old French and Italian 
productions ? 

We. — Not much. The receipts are usually long and 
complicated, and modern chemistry can tell you secrets 
worth any dozen these old books contain. Here, for 
example, is one, the first at hand, from Dr. de Blegny's 
Secrets concernant la Beaute, which he assures you will 
give " brilliancy and beauty" to the skin : — 

" Take white olibanum and myrrh, of each two 
ounces, benjamin an ounce, and gray amber six grains ; 
powder them ; put in a retort with a pound of rose 



328 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

water and digest for some time ; distil- them, and you 
will have an odorous lotion whose effects are marvel- 
lous." 

The Librarian. — Those old writers ddn't hesitate 
at promises. But is this the Dr. de Blegny who was 
court physician to Louis XIV. ? 

We. — The same. 

The Librarian. — And who delivered a course of 
lectures on perukes and wig-making to the barber 
boys of Paris ? 

We.— What if he did ? Don't you know that the 
French academicians consecrate fifteen folio pages of 
the Encyclopedie to the same important subject ? 

The Librarian. — And who finally was imprisoned 
for seven years for some slippery transaction at 
court ? 

Portia. — If the imprisonment is against him, I am 
afraid many an honest man must suffer in reputation 
with him. 

The Librarian. — Well, I won't throw any more 
stones at poor de Blegny. We might expect French- 
men to busy themselves with such topics. Somebody 
calls them a nation of perruquiers. But the solid 
Germans you don't find given to such vanities. 

We. — No ? Let us see. This stout volume is the 
Bibliotheca Medico-chirurgica. It contains a list of 
all the medical books printed in Germany from 1750 
to 1847. We'll turn to the word Kosmetik in the 



THE ROMANCE OF LE CAMUS. 329 

index. There are one, two, three, hum, hum, nine- 
teen, hum, hum, thirty-two, hum — actually forty differ- 
ent medical authors given, who wrote on cosmetics in 
that period in German, not to speak of works on ortho- 
pedics, plastics, perfumery, the hair, the skin, and so 
forth. And haven't we already mentioned Prof. Hirzel, 
and Dr. Klencke, and Dr. Deite, and 

Portia. — Don't go over those crooked names again. 
Tell us rather why all these books are forgotten. Was 
their advice without value, or were they poorly writ- 
ten? 

We. — Both. The means, as we have said, have been 
simplified and improved by modern chemistry. As 
for style, we only recall one worth any praise. 

Portia Which is that ? 

We. — The scientific romance by Antoine le Camus, 
called Abdeker, ou les Moyens de Conserver la Beaute, 
published about 1*740. 

Portia. — -What! a romance on preserving beauty! 
You must get me a copy. 

We. — Pardon us, belle dame, the style of le Camus 
was more suitable to the atmosphere of France a cen- 
tury ago than to ours. As the newspapers say, it is 
adapted to a different meridian. In short, it's too 
Frenchy for you. The plot, moreover, would be con- 
sidered stupid now-a-clays. Abdeker is physician to 
the harem of the Sultan, and reads Fatima, the favor- 
ite, with whom he is head-over-ears in love, long lec- 

28* 



330 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

tures on the arts of beauty. By the time she has 
learned her lesson, she is also in love with him. They 
elope from the dominion of the Sultan, and make 
straight for Rome, where they are baptized and mar- 
ried by the Pope himself. This is the story in a nut- 
shell, which in the original is served up with various 
episodes, gallant and horrible. 

The Librarian The English, at least, rarely wrote 

such works. 

We. — They have ever copied France in their fash- 
ions, and so they translated Camus and other works, 
but originated little. Nevertheless, we have a sen- 
tence on this slip of paper, written by an English Earl, 
so much in our favor that we thought of taking it as 
the motto for our book, but to tell the truth it is too 
strong. 

Portia. — Read it, do. 

The Librarian. — Yes, such a preface as that excites 
my curiosity. 

We. — Is it possible! Here it is : "Now, should Ga- 
len himself look out of his grave, and tell me these 
are baubles, below the profession of a physician, I 
would boldly answer him that I take more glory in 
preserving God's image in its unblemished beauty 
upon one fair face, than I do in patching up all the 
diseased bodies in the world." 

The Librarian. — Bravo! Who said that? 



VARIOUS AUTHORS. 331 

We. — No less a person than the Earl of Rochester, 
in 1670. 

The Librarian. — No less a person! I should think 
you would say, no more a person. He was a dissi- 
pated scapegrace. * 

We. — Oh, there are plenty of other authors in Eng- 
land who have written on beauty, if we rule the Earl 
out. You know Alexander Walker's handsome octa- 
vo, and the work of Mrs. A. Walker (spouse or relict 
of the said Alexander we know not) called Essay on 
Female Beauty, republished in this city some years 
back. 

Portia. — I have read that book, and thought it very 
empty. 

We. — So it is. But you will not say the same of 
Dr. John Bell's "Health and Beauty," if you have 
read that. 

Portia. — Yes, I read that too, and liked it much 
better, but he don't tell enough " toilet arts." It is 
too much health, and not enough beauty. 

The Librarian. — He wrote thirty odd years ago, 
before women were so vain and false as they are now. 

We. — What words are these ? The arts we speak of 
are as old as civilization. 

Portia. — Don't mind him. Don't Horace speak of 
a certain time of life when we always praise the past 
at the expense of the present ? I spare somebody the 
application. But that reminds me of a criticism I 



332 PERSONAL BEAUTY, 

must make on your book. Don't you leave your 
reader too often with an appeal to " the physician?" 
Why not tell more — or less ? 

We. — We feared that criticism ; but what else could 
we do ? People should be put on the watch against 
any deformity or disfigurement. They should know 
many local disorders are of constitutional origin. But 
we cannot make them specialists in the compass of 
three hundred pages duodecimo. Then, again 

The Librarian. — That 's always the way with au- 
thors. They bring you their MSS. and urge you to 
criticize freely; oh yes, freely and frankly. And every 
criticism you make, they at once set themselves to 
argue away, and prove to you that you don't appre- 
ciate and understand them. 

Portia.— Well, I'll hear the other reasons another 
time. You just now said these arts are as old as civil- 
ization. Do any of the old writers, I mean the old, 
old ones, say anything about them? 

We. — Yes, indeed ; here 's a volume by Dr. Rouher, 
Etudes Medicales sur VAncienne Rome. He gives 
you page after page of quotations from classic authors 
on cosmetics and such things. Why, Hippocrates him- 
self has much to say on the care of personal beauty, 
as you might imagine any old Greek would. Even the 
genius of poets delighted to adorn such a charming 
theme. But let me read you a few lines of an author 
whose learning " cries in the top of mine.'' I mean 



VARIOUS AUTHORS. 333 

Montaigne. " I cannot often enough repeat how much 
I hold beauty to be a potent and advantageous quality. 
Socrates called it a short tyranny, and Plato the 
privilege of nature. We have nothing that excels it 
in credit ; it holds the first rank in the commerce of 
men ; it seduces and prepossesses our judgment with 
great authority and wonderful impression. I find that 
Cyrus, Alexander, and Caesar, the three masters of the 
world, never neglected beauty in their greatest affairs. 
Aristotle says the right of command belongs to the 
beautiful, and when one asked him why handsome per- 
sons were most sought after, he replied, 6 The question 
is not to be asked by any but the blind.' The Holy 
Word often calls those good whom it would call fair, 
and we know of whom it is said, ; Speciosus forma 
prse filiis hominum.' " We translate freely. As for 
the arts they used, you know there remain fragments 
of a long poem by Ovid on cosmetics. 

The Librarian. — You mean the Medicamina faciei. 

We. — Yes, and a marvellous specimen of versifica- 
tion it is. 

The Librarian. — You are right. Its curiosa felici- 
tas surpasses that of the most ready ot our modern 
poets, Pope and Byron not excepted. 

Portia. — The session is becoming learned and dull, 
isn't it ? 

The Librarian. — A mild hint that we had better 
adjourn. Be it so. Though the subject is not ex- 



334 PERSONAL BEAUTY. 

hausted, your interest may be, so I bid you a good 
night. 

Portia. — And I likewise. 

We (to Portia). — Good night. (To the Libra- 
rian) Au revoir. (To the Header) Adieu. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Arm, the 148 

Arsenic * 301 

Arsenic eaters 239 

Arsenic eating 238 

Baldness 290, 295 

Balm of Mecca 193 

Bandolines 269 

Bandy-legs 162 

Banting, his tract 42 

Barber's itch 318 

Bath, the tepid 180 

the Koman 181 

the Turkish 182 

the Russian 182 

Bathing 175 

in wine 178 

in milk 179 

Beard, care of 315 

diseases of 317 

(335) 



336 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Beard — 

false 288 

fashions of 313 

how to wear 310 

reverence for 311 

Bearded women 299 

Beauty, curious notion of 57 

its value .' 9 

defined 13 

personal 19 

Benzoin, as a cosmetic 192 

Bismutn 208 

Blear-eye 82 

Bloat 43 

Blushing, excessive 77 

Borax, as a cosmetic 189 

Brace, for the spine 32 

for the body 66 

Breasts, form and position of 60 

flattened by pads 61 

instruments to develop 62 

excessive growth of 63 

Breath, offensive 142 

dangers of 143 

remedies for 145 

Bunions 167 

Burns, scars from 252 

Calves, false 162 

Candy, propriety of eating 126 

Carbuncles 246 



INDEX. 



337 

PAGE 



Chapped hands.-— See Hands. 

Chest, to improve the 63 

Chignons 286 

Chilblains igg 

Clothing, next the skin 200 204 

material of 220 

color of 203 

Club-foot 171 

Colors, in dress 306 

Cold cream 196 

Combs 264 

Comeliness, the duty of 320 

Complexion, to protect the 197 

to whiten the 206 

powders for 205 

lotions for the 189 193 

muddy 194 

how to improve the 196 

how to spoil 207 

Corns, to extract 165 

to cure ' 166 

to cut I67 

Corn plaster I67 

Corpulence 37 

St. Chrysostom on 49 

troubles of 37 

treatment of 39 

diet to decrease 43 

drugs in 47 

Corsets, dangers of close fitting 58, 61, 65 

Cosmetic surgery 15 

29 



338 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Cosmetics, defined 15 

Cross-eyes 91 

Cucumber, its virtues 191 

Curling the hair 270 

Curling-fluid . . .. 271 

Dandriff 295 

Dentifrices. See Tooth-powders. 

Depilatories 300 

Ear, form and care of 95 

wax in 95 

insects in 96 

artificial 97 

piercing the 98 

Ear-rings 98 

Eczema of scalp 297 

Electricity 294 

as a cosmetic 251 

its cosmetic uses 222 

Emulsions 195 

Expression, the 73, 77 

Eye, color of 79, 87 

dark lines under 84 

pupil of 88 

wiping the 88 

weak 89, 90 

artificial 92 

Eyebrows, the 80 

to strengthen " 81 

to darken 82 



INDEX. 339 

PAGE 

Eye-glasses 90, 106 

Eyelashes, the 85 

to color the 86 

Eyelids, their position 82 

puffed and swollen 85 

everted 84 

Eyes, expression of 93 

to brighten the 92 

Face, shape of 72 

Facial angle. 72 

Fattening food 51 

for the trade 52 

Fatness. — See Corpulence. 

Fetid feet 169 

Fever-blisters 121 

Figure, the human 21 

proportions of 21 

how to perfect the 23 

relaxed and stooping 30 

Fingers, form of 150 

Fixateurs 269 

Foot, the 162 

flat 163 

odor of 169 

Forehead, shape of 70 

Form, loss of 33 

Freckles 228 

French chalk 206 

Frosted feet 168 



340 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Garters, where to be worn 161 

Gloves, 151, 152 

cosmetic 154 

India-rubber 155 

Glycerine 83, 153 

Goitre 56 

Golden hair 284 

Golden-hair fluids 285 

Gray hair 274, 280 

Gregarines 289 

Grubs on the face 244 

Gums, tender 129 

Gymnastics 24 

Hair, the 256 

physiology of 257 

coarsest in women 258 

color of 261 

braiding and cutting the 265 

of men, weaker 267 

long, dangers of 268 

to cure 269 

powdering the 272 

gray .\ 274 

price of '. 287 

falling of 290 

excessive growth of 298 

yellow 284 

false 286 

arrangement of 304 

symbolism of 305 



INDEX. 341 

PAGE 

Hairs, number of 259 

growth of 260 

Hair-tonics 293 

Hair-washes 262, 263 

Hair -brushes 264 

Hair-powders 272 

Hair-dyes 280 

Hand, the 149 

Hands, to whiten the 153 

moistness of, to prevent. . , : 155 

chapped 15o, 192 

deformities of 156 

Hand-shaking discountenanced 151 

Hare-lip . . .-. 118 

Head, shape of 67 

size of 68 

symmetry of 69 

shaving the 294 

Heat-rash 248 

Height of the body 22 

of American women 25 

unusual = . . 26 

Hives 248 

Hoarseness • 136 

Horse-radish as a cosmetic 191 

India-ink marks 234 

Ingrowing toe nail 170 

Itching, remedies for 242 

Kissing, perils of 122 

29* 



342 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Lead, dangers of 209 

<tyes : 282 

Leanness, troubles of 38, 48 

cautions about 49 

diet to improve 50 

flagellation for 54 

Left-banded people 28 

Leg, tbe 160 

Lemons as cosmetics 229 

Leprosy 223 

Limbs, artificial 36 

Lips 114, 116 

excessive growth of 117 

color of 119 

dryness and cracking of 119 

cancer of 122 

Lip salves . . . . 120 

Liver spots 230 

Lupus 249 

Marriage, its effects on the figure 49 

Masks 198 

Members, superfluous and defective 35 

Mineral waters 53 

Moles 232 

Mothers' marks 233 

Mouth 114, 116 

wash for 129 

Muscular laxity 34 

Nails, of fingers 157 

Nail brush, the 157 



INDEX. 343 

PAGE 

Nail powders 158 

Nails, of toes 170 

Nearness of sight 91 

Neck, proper form of 55 

defects in 56 

tumors on 251 

Nettle rash 248 

Nitrate of silver 280 

Nitrate of silver stains 224 

in hair dyes 225 

Nose, redness of 237 

form and care of 100 

foreign bodies in 103 

hairs in 103 

defects in shape of 104 

polyp of 106 

artificial 107 

Odors, laws of 110, 111 

Ozsena 102 

Pads over the breasts 62 

Pallor of the skin 219 

Palsy of the face 30 

Patches 216 

Perfumery 109 

rules for 112, 113 

Perfumes to brighten the eyes 93 

Phrenology 68 

Pimples. 245 

remedies for 216 



344 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Poisons, used as cosmetics 240 

Pomades, for the skin 195 

Powders for the skin 204 

Prickly heat 248 

Profile, the 72 

Psilothron 303 

Redness of the skin and nose 237 

Rice powder 205 

Rings, how to remove 150 

Ringworm 297 

Rose-powder 210 

Rouge 211 

Round-shouldered persons 31 

Rusma 300 

Scalled-head 247 

Scalp, diseases of 291 

Scars, from burns 252 

from smallpox 252 

how to conceal 236 

prevention and removal of 252 

Sea bathing 180 

Secretage 271 

Shaving the head 294 

Shoe, the 164 

Shoulders, proper shape 58 

defects 58 

want of symmetry in 29 

Skin, eruptions on 241 

the structure of. 173 



INDEX. 345 

PAGE 

Sleeping on the side 28 

Smallpox, scars from 253 

Smell, sense of 108 

Snuff-dipping 127 

Soaps 185 

colored ; . 186 

transparent 187 

medicated 187 

Soapstone, its uses 206 

Spine, curvature of the 31 

Spinal, irritation 32 

Squinting 91 

Stature, defects in 25 

Stye 83 

Sunburn 226 

Stammering 138 

Stuttering 138 

Sun-glass, in surgery 234 

Sycosis * 318 

Symmetry, want of 27 

Tan 227 

Tattoo marks, how to erase 236 

Teeth, the 123 

abuse of 126 

color of 134 

Tetter 318 

Theatricals, parlor 135 

Tics 75 

Tight-lacing discussed 58, 61, 65 



346 Index. 

PAGE 

Tooth-powders 129, 132 

brushes 130 

sponges 137 

picks 128 

Tumors on the neck 251 

Veils 197 

Virgin's milk 193 

Voice, the 134 

in singing '. . . 136 

loss of 140 

Walnut dies 282 

Warts, to cure 156, 157 

on the face 250 

Weeping 88 

Weight, table of for different ages 39 

White spots 223 

Wigs 287, 309 

Woman, physical life of 32 

diseases of 32, 33 

Wrinkles, how to prevent 254 

Wry -neck 56 

Zinc, as a cosmetic 209 



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